Introduction to Hand Hygiene- The Importance and Benefits

Hands are used every day for many different tasks and because of contact with other people, equipment, or surroundings they can become contaminated. Hands are therefore frequent carriers in the spread of a wide variety of germs, some of which could cause infection.

Hands may look clean but germs, which are not visible to the human eye, are always present. Cleaning the hands to remove these germs will help to prevent them from being transferred to others. This means that effective hand hygiene plays a very important role in infection prevention and control and in reducing the risk of infection in health care settings.

The Importance of Hand Hygiene

Washing your hands should be a regular thing when dealing with things that may have germs or bacteria. An example of this is when going to the toilet, washing your hands thoroughly can prevent may diseases for you and others.

Ultimately, washing your hands is for your own safety but also for the safety of others. Not washing your hands on one occasion could spread illnesses and infections to many, just by transferring germs onto handrails, door handles, toys, tabletops and many more.

Why be a reason for another person’s illness for the sake of washing your hands for two minutes?

The Benefits of Hand Hygiene

• Reduces the risk of infection and illness.
• Increases overall hygiene, by one small change.
• Promotes personal hygiene.
• Makes people less scared to leave the house in case of catching an illness or infection.
• Improves attendance in schools and workplaces by reducing sickness.
• Reduces the risk for people with weakened immune systems.

Handwashing helps battle the rise in antibiotic resistance

Preventing sickness reduces the amount of antibiotics people use and the likelihood that antibiotic resistance will develop. Handwashing can prevent about 30% of diarrhea-related sicknesses and about 20% of respiratory infections, for example, a cold. Reducing the number of these infections by washing hands frequently helps prevent the overuse of antibiotics—the single most important factor leading to antibiotic resistance around the world. Handwashing can also prevent people from getting sick with germs that are already resistant to antibiotics and that can be difficult to treat.

Please follow these procedures when washing and sanitising your hands:

We care about your health and hygiene and want to provide you with the help and information needed to look after yourself and with the help of our carers. Hand hygiene is extremely important and taking care of this could avoid many bacterial diseases. For you and others safety, make sure to follow hand hygiene procedures.