WHAT DOES HAPPY BIRTHDAY HAVE TO DO WITH HAND WASHING

Sylvia Morris 5/6/12

•Have a close look at your hands

What do you see?

• Wrinkles• Lines• Skin marks• Dry skin• A healed scar

SO WHY IS HAND WASHING SO IMPORTANT?

• When you go to the toilet, blow your nose, cover your mouth when you cough, cook food, clean a dirty floor you pick up bugs on your hands.

• LIKE THIS →

•

• When you care for a sick, young or old person, help keep them clean, touch their belongings you can pick up their bugs and then transfer them to the next person you touch.

• If you are sick and don’t wash your hands you can pass on your bugs on other people.

Transient Bugs

• Bugs picked up from things you touch are called “transient” bugs.

• Transient means-moving from one place to another

• So “transient bugs don’t belong on your hands.

Resident Bugs• Many bugs live on your hands. They don’t cause any

harm. But if you have a cut or graze and it is not cleaned well those same bugs can get in and cause an infection.

• If you touch someone else’s cut or graze your bugs can also be passed on to them and cause an infection.

• “Resident” bugs live on your hands

• “Resident” means – it lives there.

Have another look at your hands. Can you see any bugs?

Bugs• Bugs are too small to see just with your eyes.

• More than a thousand bugs would fit on the head of a small pin.

• So you can’t see them even with a magnifying lens, so you have to remember they are there and wash your hands often.

SO HOW DO YOU WASH YOUR HANDS?

Routine wash- after most activities

Soap and water for 15 seconds. Gets rid of most “transient” and some “resident” bugs.

To help you stick to it you sing:

Happy Birthday to you

Happy Birthday to you

Happy Birthday dear ……….

Happy Birthday to you

Aseptic Hand wash

For extra care- antiseptic soap and water for 1 minute.

The soap (called antiseptic) has a chemical in it that helps kill the “transient” and “resident” bugs.

Try singing the happy birthday tune to yourself 4 times.

Alcoholic hand rub

• Special situations -alcohol hand rub.

• The rub doesn’t clean hands but nearly all the “transient” and “resident” bugs will be killed for a short time.

• Cant be used all the time as it builds up on the skin

• Can be drying

Why do infections still spread?• People don’t wash their hands enough.

• People don’t wash their hands properly.

• This is the main reason infections still spread in the community and in hospitals.

Class activity• Put on a small amount of glogerm cream on hands (about

5 -10 cents size) • Rub all over your hands• Have a look under the UV lamp

• Wash your hands with:• Water alone• Soap and Water for 5 second• Soap and Water for 15 seconds • Soap and water for 1 minute

Handwashing Technique

Areas most frequently missed during hand washing