Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Hand Washing

The importance of hand washing has been emphasized since we were in kindergarten. As we grew up, we became more aware of the fact that hand washing is one of the most important primary prevention for infectious diseases. However, do we know the proper way to wash our hands? Many times I see people in restrooms just briefly running their hands through the water after they finish up their number ones or number twos. Indeed, we are all busy people who need to speed up every possible process in our lives. However, if we can prevent further damage through a simple ritual, I say that it is worth it to make it a habit. According to Center for Disease Control (CDC)’s guidelines, using warm water and rubbing hands with soap for 20 seconds is ideal. And yes, 20 seconds is the proper amount of time one should spend in soaping hands. Also, one must make sure to wash areas like beneath nails and wrists to clean places commonly dismissed. The tedious 20 seconds can be made more enjoyable by singing “Happy Birthday” twice, or singing the “ABC” song. After rinsing hands well under running water, turn off the faucet with the paper towel, not your hand. If water is not available, alcohol-based hand sanitizer is a good substitute, but make sure to rub the product over all surfaces of hands until they become dry. Washing hands not only makes you healthy, but it also prevents disease from spreading to people around you. With clean hands comes healthy body. Let’s make sure that we wash our hands along the rhythm of all-time-favorite 20 second songs, “Happy Birthday,”and the “ABC”s!

Reference: CDC’s website  http://www.cdc.gov/print.do?url=http%3A//www.cdc.gov/cleanhands/

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