Hand Hygiene: 5 Moments, And 7 Movements Of Hand Hygiene

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In this article, we will share detailed information on hand hygiene, 5 moments, and 7 movements of hand hygiene. And if you are interested in more articles, comment to us below.

Hand Hygiene

Hand hygiene is a basic and very important technique that should be performed everywhere and not only in hospitals and clinics. It is a must in the sectors like schools, houses, colleges, canteens, restaurants, and other places of gatherings. Cleaning your hands helps to prevent maximum infections by destroying the pathogens present in your hands. In hospitals, it is a very important step to prevent various deadliest infections from spreading.

The infections that are prevented from:

• Patient to patient
• Healthcare worker to patient
• Patient to healthcare workers
• Patient to the hospital environment
• Healthcare worker to the hospital environment

Hand hygiene is the first step taught to the students of medical-related fields and the awareness of it should be increased in all the sectors to prevent the spread or contact of infections.

Five Major Moments Of Hand Hygiene:

The moments of hand hygiene refer to the situation or time when the healthcare workers should perform the hand hygiene steps.

• Before touching the patient.
• After touching the patient.
• Before performing an aseptic procedure.
• After touching the hospital environment.
• After exposure to body fluids or blood.

Hence, performing hand hygiene after these moments will help the healthcare workers to destroy most of the infectious pathogens and prevent their spread.

Steps To Follow During Hand Washing:

Preliminary Steps:

• The steps before washing your hands are called preliminary steps and they include:
• Removal of jewelry, gloves, or any other objects present in the hand.
• Wet your hand and wrist with clean running water and mostly use warm water if available.
• Soap should be applied such that it should cover all the surfaces of the hand and wrist.
• Then rub your hands and wrist to produce enough later.

Seven Movements Or Steps Of Hand Hygiene:

Step-1: Rub your hand's palm to palm.

Step-2: Left palm over dorsum with interlaced fingers and vise versa.

Step-3: Palm to palm with fingers interlaced.

Step-4: Fingers interlocked rub backs of fingers to opposing palms.

Step-5: Rotational rubbing of right thumb clasped in left palm and vise versa.

Step-6: Rotational rubbing the hand backward and forwards with clasped fingers of the left hand in the right palm and vice versa.

Step-7: Rotational rubbing of left wrist and vise versa.

These seven steps must be done for at least 15-20 seconds and refer to the above diagram for better understanding.

Rinsing And Drying Step:

• After performing the seven steps rinse your hands well under running tap water.
• Thoroughly dry your hands using a paper towel or air dryer. Avoid using cloth towels as they may contain some microorganisms that might be transmitted.
• Turn off the tap by using a paper tissue or towel.

How To Clean Your Hand While Using Alcohol-Based Sanitizer:

Hand hygiene by using hand sanitizer is different from washing your hands with soap. Every time there might not be the availability of soap and water. In such cases, hand sanitizers are used. 

Apply few drops of hand rub or sanitizer to the palm of your hand, rub the hands thoroughly, and then rub the sanitizer all over the surfaces of your hands, wrist, and fingers. Rub it until hands get dry. If hands are not dry then there are high chances of microorganisms being alive, when it drys the microorganisms get destroyed.

What Is The Importance Of Following Hand Hygiene:

Hand hygiene should also be maintained before eating, after coughing, sneezing, or after changing the diapers, after traveling through the public transport vehicles, and after using the bathroom.

Hand hygiene helps to prevent various infections that might develop due to the pathogens present in your hands. It prevents pathogens from entering your mouth, nose, eyes, skin, and other parts of the body through your hands.

Hand hygiene prevents various infections like:

• Coronavirus
• Diarrhea
• Enteric Fever
• Influenza
• Common Cold
• Meningitis
• Eye infections
• Respiratory diseases
• Hepatitis A
• Skin lesions, etc.

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