Are You Cleaning Your Hands The Right Way?
Probably not!
Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you have been washing your hands wrong for your entire life. Hard to believe, but it’s true. Think back to when you were taught how to wash your hands. Go ahead we’ll wait…
I remember my parents telling me to sing “Happy Birthday” for 20 seconds and boom, I was done. Now here I am, 20 something years later in the infection control industry, learning that there is more to this song and dance than I thought. It’s ok, we will get through this together and be killing germs left and right by the time this post is over.
What are the steps?
There are 2 methodologies to cleaning your hands with sanitizer. The C.D.C. has their way and WHO also has an alternative method as well.
First is the very simple C.D.C. process which should take about 35 seconds:
- Apply the sanitizer to one palm of your hand
- Rub both of your hands together
- Rub product over all surfaces of your hands until dry
Pretty easy right? We think so, but the W.H.O. although more complicated, offers a better way to sanitize your hands. Take a look here at their instructions which should take 20-30 seconds:
If you are interested in finding out the proper way to wash AND dry your hands according to WHO there was a study published in the journal of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America. Take a look at WHO’s diagram here which should take 42.5 seconds:
There are so many more instructions than apply and rub when washing your hands with soap – but it is so much more effective in reducing the median bacteria on your hands. Honestly, if 7 seconds is the difference between getting a cold, using 2 sick days and endless boxes of tissues, I’ll change my ways.
The next time that you are preparing food for the family, care for someone that is sick, or use the restroom grab your bottle of of SaniWash Hand Soap followed by Instant Hand Sanitizer and try out the W.H.O. technique. Your first go around may take more than 42.5 seconds, but once you get the hang of it and make it a new healthy habit, you will be thanking yourself.
Have you tried our hand sanitizer? If not, click here fill out the form and let us know that you are interested in ordering a free sample and we will send it right to your office!
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Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/21/health/washing-hands.html?_r=0
https://www.cdc.gov/handwashing/when-how-handwashing.html
https://www.who.int/gpsc/clean_hands_protection/en/#