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Hand Hygiene: Types and Importance

Hand transmission is a major way that pathogens spread in healthcare settings. There are 5 stages for hand transmission to occur: 1) germs are present on a patient, 2) the germs transfer to a healthcare worker's hands, 3) the germs survive on the hands for minutes, 4) hands are not properly cleaned, and 5) the contaminated hands then transmit germs to another patient. Proper hand hygiene is important to break this chain of transmission and can be either routine social hand washing for 15-20 seconds, medical hand washing for 40-60 seconds such as before examinations, or surgical hand washing for 3-5 minutes before procedures.

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129 views23 pages

Hand Hygiene: Types and Importance

Hand transmission is a major way that pathogens spread in healthcare settings. There are 5 stages for hand transmission to occur: 1) germs are present on a patient, 2) the germs transfer to a healthcare worker's hands, 3) the germs survive on the hands for minutes, 4) hands are not properly cleaned, and 5) the contaminated hands then transmit germs to another patient. Proper hand hygiene is important to break this chain of transmission and can be either routine social hand washing for 15-20 seconds, medical hand washing for 40-60 seconds such as before examinations, or surgical hand washing for 3-5 minutes before procedures.

Uploaded by

vijayalakshmi
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

Hand transmission

– Hands are the most


common vehicle to
transmit health care-
associated pathogens
– Transmission of
health care-associated
pathogens from one
patient to another via
health-care workers’
hands requires
5 sequential steps
5 stages of hand transmission
one two three four five
Germs present Germ transfer Germs survive Suboptimal or Contaminated
on patient skin onto health- on hands for omitted hand hands transmit
and immediate care worker’s several cleansing germs via
environment hands minutes results in direct contact
surfaces hands with patient or
remaining patient’s
contaminated immediate
environment
History
• Father of hand washing / infection control:
• Ignaz Semmelweis, a Hungarian doctor
working in Vienna General Hospital , is known
as father of hand washing.
Definition
• Hand washing also known as hand hygiene, is
the art of cleaning hands for the purpose of
removing soil, dirt, and micro organisms.
Types
1. Routine (Social) - 15 – 20 sec
2. Medical Hand washing – 40 – 60 sec
3. Surgical hand washing – 3- 5 mints
Social hand washing:
is performed to render the hands
physically clean and to remove transient micro organism
• Duration – 15- 20 sec
• Example :
– Before and after food
– After using toilet
– After belowing your nose
– After handing rubbish
– After changing nappy
– Before and after touching sick or injured person
Medical hand washing : or clean hand washing
technique includes procedures used to reduce
number of microorganisms and their spreads

Example : while examining patients, minor


procedures like IV cannula insertion

• Duration: 40 – 60 seconds
Surgical hand washing :
is defined as the complete removal of the micro
organisms and their spores from the surface area

Examples
Minor major surgeries

Duration – 3-5 mints


Purposes
• Removes dirt, soil from the hand
• Reduces cross contamination
• Reduces the risk of hand acting as carrier of
disease
• Breaks the chain of infection spread
• Prevents the nosocomial infection
Thank You

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