by Virginia Gaces

Created on: September 22, 2008   Last Updated: February 20, 2009

Proper hand hygiene has been proven by experts to be the best practice of preventing infection and decreasing the spread of diseases. This excerpt is from MayoClinic.com:

"...Yet hand washing, when done properly, is one of the best ways to avoid getting sick. This simple habit requires only soap and warm water or an alcohol-based hand sanitizer a cleanser that doesn't require water."

The hands should be properly taken cared of because of its vital function in the body. What are the guidelines to proper hand hygiene? What are the procedures to ensure that your hands are always clean?

Listed below are these guidelines:

1. Always keep your fingernails trimmed. Long nails tend to trap dirt and bacteria which could be easily transferred to the mouth when eating.

2. Always wash your hands before eating and after every activity that tends to expose them to microorganisms, viruses and many more infective agents. Hand washing with an appropriate soap is still the best method of preventing infection from diseases.

Hand-washing should be done properly. Start by lathering your hand from the fingernails then going up to the forearm. Palms are rubbed against each other and soap should be rubbed thoroughly in between the fingers and the back of the palm. A brush maybe used to remove dirt from the fingernails

When rinsing, the hands should be higher than your forearm. This will allow the dirt and water to flow freely away from your hands and not flow back

Dry your hands with a clean towel.

3. Avoid skin dryness by applying a mild lotion after taking a bath or after washing. Skin softeners will also prevent callous formation and skin scaling.

4. When you have a hand wound, wash it thoroughly with soap and water and then apply a sterilizing agent like 70 isopropyl alcohol, iodine or betadine.

5. When touching contaminated objects, be sure to wear gloves or protective hand covering. This is to prevent direct contamination with the infecting agent.

Observe the "Universal Precaution" by considering all body fluids and unknown objects as potentially infectious even when they prove negative for any disease. Who knows they maybe infected with viruses instead of bacteria.

6. As much a possible, use a spoon and a fork when eating, Eating with your bare hands may leave food particles inside your nails attracting potential microorganism who may reside on your nail area.

7. If you expect to be out all day long, and no chance to wash your hands, then bring with you a hand sanitizer to take the place of hand-washing . This will at least freeze the bacteria and make it incapable of infecting you.

Among all of these seven, washing with soap and water is still the best option to maintain proper hand hygiene. It takes only soap and water to ensure that your hands are clean.

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