Now let's cover hand hygiene.
Hand hygiene has gotta be the most important infection control technique there is.
In fact, we're going to disinfect our hands whenever they're visibly dirty,
or contaminated, and before having contact with patients,
before we put on our gloves,
before we insert any invasive device,
and before manipulating any invasive device.
Then we also are going to make sure we practice good hand disinfection,
after having contact with a patient's skin,
having contact with bodily fluids or secretions,
before having any contact with non-intact skin,
wound dressings, or contaminated items.
Or before having contact with inanimate objects that are near a patient.
And definitely after removing our gloves.
Now we're going to demonstrate how accurately to apply the hand gel,
and how to disinfect our hands using hand gel.
The first thing we need is actually the hand gel,
which we're going to place in the palm of one of our hands.
And then we're going to make sure to rub our hands together.
The amount of hand gel is important so that we have enough,
that it will last us, wet, up to about fifteen seconds of disinfection.
As we work the hand gel into the tips of the fingers,
into cracked or dry parts of the skin, crevices,
around cuticles.
My wedding ring won't come off easily, and most of yours probably won't either,
so it's important that you work the disinfecting gel underneath the band,
and around any other jewelry that will not come off.
If you have watches, remove those using proper handling protocol,
so that you disinfect your watches as well once you get them back on.
And making sure to go around your hands and covering all surface areas.
We're going to rub this alcohol gel into our hands, again, for no less than fifteen seconds,
and then allow the gel to air dry for an effective kill time.
Now in this segment, we're going to be covering proper hand washing with soap and water.
This is whenever we have a visible contaminate on our hands,
where an alcohol gel is just not enough to disinfect the hands.
Now, in clinical or hospital settings,
many of them are equipped with foot pedals to turn the water on and off.
Whenever applicable, that's the best way to turn the water on and off.
We also find that in some industrial settings, or clinical settings,
you have an infrared eye to actually dispense the soap,
where actually physically touching the pump is not required.
Those are also great ways of not cross contaminating by touching objects.
In this scenario, for training purposes, obviously we don't have those available,
we'll be using the actual levers for the faucet, and the pump mechanism for the soap,
and we'll demonstrate how to use this type of set up to properly disinfect.
So we're first going to turn the water on.
Secondly, we're going to make sure to thoroughly wet our hands, completely,
prior to dispensing the soap.
Now we're going to get an adequate amount of soap,
and begin washing our hands, by getting the soap lathered,
covering our wrists and our hands,
and then we're going to start going for a minimum of fifteen seconds or longer,
washing our hands in a particular fashion.
The first thing we're going to do is cross hand on top of hand, and wash on top of the hand,
and between the fingers on both sides,
making sure to pay special attention to any caked on, or contamination.
Then we flip our hands over, palm side, and interlink our fingers and do the same.
After this, we're going to go ahead and interlock our hands,
paying special attention to the cuticle areas of the fingers, and nail beds,
thumbs included,
then we're going to go ahead and make sure we wash the thumbs with a rotational method,
on both sides.
And then making sure to do the circular motions, which I believe actually helps clean underneath the fingernails,
and get those contaminates out completely.
Now, notice that I have a ring on, that I cannot remove.
I'm going to make sure to get underneath the ring, and clean that area thoroughly,
and I also have a watch on,
which is very common in workplaces.
I'm going to go ahead and include the watch in my disinfecting.
I want to leave the soap, which is an antimicrobial soap, in contact with the watch for at least fifteen seconds or more.
Another way to remember how long to wash your hands or other things, is to sing "Happy Birthday"
at least two times through.
I encourage even up to three times.
Paying special attention to the wrists.
Let's say that fifteen seconds or more has passed.
I'm going to go ahead and rinse my watch, which I'll continue to dry later.
And then I'm going to continue and rinse all of the contaminates and the soap off my arms and hands.
I'm going to look at my upper arms to see if there's any splashes,
or other contamination.
Look at the hands.
Inspect them for any lasting contaminate.
And look for any breaks in the skin or any puncture wounds that may have been
contaminated with blood or body fluids.
After we're finished and thoroughly washed, I'm going to grab my paper towel,
or towel,
thoroughly dry my hands,
and then, so as to not cross contaminate,
use the paper towel to turn off the running water,
and then dispose of the paper towel by appropriate means with a waste receptacle.