Steps for Handwashing
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Americans are not washing their hands properly or often enough. Hand washing might not seem like that big of a deal, but the CDC estimates that up to 80 percent of all infections are transmitted by contact from hands. Properly washing your hands is considered to be the single most important thing people can do to stop the spread of infection. Hand washing is a simple process, but it must be done properly in order to be effective.-
When to wash your hands
-
According to the CDC, all those times your mother told you to go wash your hands were actually appropriate. In order to prevent the spread of infection and maintain good health, you should wash your hands after touching any bare human body part with the exception of other clean hands or arms. You should always wash your hands after using the toilet, coughing or sneezing, using tobacco, eating or drinking. It is also important to wash your hands after handling dirty tools, utensils or equipment. You should always thoroughly wash your hands before cooking and again after working with raw foods, particularly raw meat, fish or poultry.
How to wash your hands
-
Hand washing should take at least 20 seconds. Start by turning on the water and allowing it to get warm to the touch. The water should not be so hot that it is uncomfortable. Place soap on the palms and rub the soap over both hands. Place the hands under the running water and rub vigorously. Be sure to include the backs of the hands, between your fingers, under the nails and around the wrists. Rinse all of the soap off of your hands under running water. Turn the water off and dry hands, preferably with a single-use paper towel.
What not to use
-
The CDC does not recommend using hand sanitizers instead of proper hand washing. However, hand sanitizers with an ethyl alcohol or isopropanol content of at least 60 percent might be effective when used in addition to proper hand washing.
-