Hand Cleaning Project: Importance of Hand Hygiene in Healthcare Institutions

Running head: HAND CLEANING PROJECT 1
Hand Cleaning Project
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Hand Cleaning Project
INTRODUCTION
Hand cleaning has also been referred to as hand hygiene. It is commonly described as the
cleaning of hands so as to remove dirt, soil and even microorganisms. Cleaning hands with plain
water isn’t just enough as that doesn’t get rid of all microorganisms. Therefore, water and soap
are always recommended. More to that, in the event that water and soap isn’t available, then ash
serves as a good substitute. There are over 1000 procedures that happen in a health institution
and there are even more activities that the health practioners get involved in in a day. This results
to accumulation of germs build up on their hands let alone clothes. Due to the numerous
activities, the health practioners and administrators may forget to sanitize or wash their hands
before and after attending to patients in the health care institutions (Atae, 2017).
The CDC and WHO have established the number one killer in children and also for
patients under critical conditions in the hospitals, as infection. It may be through the air or
through contact. This not only increases the patient’s risks of death but also increases the health
attendant’s chances of getting sick. Through a study at one of the health institutions, the report
hopes to analyze ways in which the health practioners get sick and even more so their
compliance to the hand washing programs that have ben introduced globally. The report will seek
to place in all scenarios and even motivation used to woo the practitioners, and administrators to
wash their hands in the critical moments. The report will identify and analyze how each group of
the health workers faired in the compliance tests and also how each group performed
independently. It will also look into how such strides have helped improved the health conditions
of both heath workers and in and out patients that attend the facilities in such of cures for their

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children. This is mostly for the young children who are under the age of five that die as a result
of ARI (Acute Respiratory Infections) (CDC, 2017).
LITERATURE REVIEW
Hand hygiene is a method that was adopted in the age of Pharaoh and thus it has been
long existed since the 300 B. C. This is due to the fact that it was noted that people often got sick
with their hands not washed as opposed to when they ate with clean hands. It’s important for a
person to adopt a hand hygiene regime that they can follow on a daily basis to keep healthy.
There are different hand hygiene methods involved. One of them is the medical hand hygiene.
This is mostly related to medical procedures where one washes their hands before administering
of medication, or even medical care like surgery. In the hygiene soap is used to clean out
microorganisms, dirt and oil build up. Soap is more thorough than other products and hence the
preference. This prevents spread of disease causing microorganisms as it gets rids of pathogen,
among them bacteria and viruses. It also gets rid of chemicals that may cause harm or bring
about diseases. It’s important to ensure that one washes their hands especially in the critical
moments that occur daily as this minimizes spread of diseases among them diarrhea and cholera.
This are mostly transmitted through fecal oral ways. More to that, if the infections spread to the
respiratory systems, they tend to cause diseases among them influenza, common cold among
others (Hartocollis, 2013).
Benefits of washing hands
 It helps minimize the spread of diseases.
 It prevents water borne diseases like cholera and diarrhea.
 It minimizes and eradicates respiratory infections and disease.

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 Its used a preventative measure for most of the infant’s deaths that occur during
home birth deliveries.
 It also adds longevity to children under five years of age (Kowitt, 2015).
State of Mortality Rates in Developing Countries and How Hand Washing
Influences the Statistics.
One of the issues that the developing countries is lack of adequate resources to meet the
minimum daily needs of each citizen. Low resources and living under a dollar results to little or
no access to basic needs like clean and safe water. Thus, there is a higher population who use the
lavatories and do not wash their hands after. There are less clinicians who follow up on washing
hands before and after contact with patients as the number of patients reporting to the institutions
is more than the clinicians can handle. Similarly, the systems required to monitor hygiene in the
health institutions are less and the low pay to health workers may contribute to their lack of
motivation in treating the patients. This places infants, HDU and ICU patients at a risk of
infectious deaths as reports have shown in recent times. This has largely contributed to the high
reports on increase in child mortality rates in the developing countries. This is due to respiratory
related infections and diseases as well as diarrhea. However, the situation can change if simple
behavioral changes are adapted. Some of this include handwashing using soap. This has been
proven through scientific studies to reduce deaths from diseases such as cholera, by at least 50%
(U.S. Department of Venterans Affairs, 2016)
The bigger question has been how to achieve such strides. Through interventions, hand
washing can be promoted to people so as to significantly reduce the related illnesses by at least
2/3. Statistics hold that through interventions and adaptations of hand cleaning, more than 48%
of the diarrhea incidences reported in hospitals has been reduced. More to that it has greatly

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improved and helped reduce acute respiratory infections (ARI). The number one killer disease
for children below the age of five years is pneumonia. It has been recorded to take away 1.8
million lives. Diarrhea and cholera jointly take away 3.5 million lives of young children
annually. Due to the statistics organizations such as UNICEF have turned to awareness
campaigns that seek to have people wash their hands before meals and also after using the toilet.
This is in a bid to save more lives and also prevent contestant use of vaccines and medical
interventions that the body immunity can overrun. Hand washing is usually part of other
sanitation methods and interventions (The conversation, 2016)
Among measures taken include hand hygiene programs also referred to as wash
programs. In a person’s daily activities, there are critical times where handwashing using soap is
important so as to prevent fecal-oral transmission of diseases. They include hand-washing after
use of toilets (defecation), after cleaning one’s or a child’s bottom, before feeding a child, before
eating and also before preparing of foods or when handling raw meat. A study conducted in over
54 countries in 2015 showed that only 38.7% of the household practiced handwashing with soap.
This has caused more non-profit organizations to formulate programs that seek to reach out to
children’s behaviors. Among the countries that have taken up such programs include the
Philippines, in a bid to promote the health and education of the children. Additionally, programs
to have the children deworming at least twice in year and brushing of teeth daily suing fluoride
have been adopted to as to decrease children immortality rates and promote health (Ataee, 2017).
Substances used in cleaning of hands
Soap and Detergents.
So as to remove the micro bacterial that may be in the skin, soap is added to water or
used conjunctively. Water alone in insufficient in cleaning and cleansing the skin due to the fact

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that the skin builds up on fat and proteins as the day goes along. More to that, they are
components of organic soil and hence aren’t readily soluble in water. Therefore, much more
water is needed to cleanse the skin (WHO, 2018).
Solid Soap
Solid soap is the most common substance used in cleaning of hands and the body in
general. This is due to the fact that its reusable and it may not hold bacteria from previous uses
before. There has been a move by soap manufacturers to produce more antiseptic soaps even
though there is yet to be any scientific evidence for antiseptics contributing to reducing antibiotic
resistant organisms. However, they can resist most microorganisms (WHO, 2018).
Water
Warm to hot water is recommended for handing washing. However, it’s not a full brown
method to kill bacteria. This is due to the fact that bacteria tend to grow much faster than 370c.
Used with soap, it’s a more effective bacterial killer than cold water as it removed natural skin
oils and also reduced the macrobacteria load on one’s hands (WHO, 2018).
Hand Antiseptics
A hand sanitizer is also referred to as a hand antiseptic as it’s a non-water-based hygiene
agent. In the past, alcohol rubs were used as the hand hygiene agents. Since then, they have
developed to antiseptic hand rubs that mostly have alcohol. Some are formulated using isopropyl
alcohol and ethanol together with a thickening agent so as to form a gel. Due to the high content
of alcohol, they are effective germ killers as they kill bacteria and drug resistant bacteria. They
help them reduce tuberculosis and some viruses that include HIV, Herpes, RSV, rhinovirus,
vaccinia, flue and fungi. They kill bacteria in seconds after application and are most effective in
killing bacteria than they are viruses. It’s the most recommended method of cleaning hands by