Good hygiene for both the caregiver and the care client are essential for maintaining good health. Preventing infection requires thinking about how to protect the client you are caring for along with maintaining cleanliness practices throughout your caregiving duties.
Hand washing to Prevent Contamination and Spread of Disease
Hand washing is the caregiver’s best friend
Hand washing is the single best way to avoid infection with contagious diseases
Hand washing prevents germs from spreading
Hand washing Tips: Sing “Happy Birthday to me” twice: Singing Happy Birthday to yourself twice while washing your hands helps you remember the length of time necessary to properly wash your hands with soap and water which should be:
30 seconds = minimum length of time to wash hands
Professional caregivers should WASH THEIR HANDS for 15 seconds for EACH HAND
BEFORE direct contact with the care client
AFTER each contact
Watch Video from the CDC on Hand Hygiene for Fighting Infections:
Hand washing Techniques:
Wet each hand thoroughly and apply antibacterial soap.
Rub your hands together making sure you scrub the entire hand, including in-between the fingers.
Scrub each hand for 15 seconds/
Be sure to clean under the fingernails as most germs hide under and around your fingernails.
Artificial nails should be avoided as they are difficult to clean.
Jewelry can serve as a nest for germs so remove when washing your hands.
Rinse both hands in warm water. Avoid very hot water as it can harm the skin and add to infections.
Be sure to rinse ALL the soap off of your hands
Dry hands completely. Paper towels are suggested although motion-activated dryers are the best but obviously not usually present in a senior’s home...but just remember when in a public bathroom the motion-activated dryers are the best option.
Remember, always wash your hands:
After contact with the senior care client
Before and after situations in which your hands are going to be contaminated
After bathroom breaks
After lunch breaks
Before preparing food
After preparing food
After sneezing
After coughing
Before putting on gloves
After taking gloves off
Strict hand-washing routines are the gold standard for reducing infections associated with health care. Infections communicated in nursing homes, hospitals and doctor’s offices are linked to nearly 100,000 deaths a year affect more than 1 million patients. When accompanying as a senior to any of these facilities, always ask the medical professions: “ Have you washed your hands?”
Watch this from the Centers for Disease Control on the Most Common Infection Sites:
Electronic sensors, thermal imaging and video cameras are being used to help monitor consistent hand-washing at health care facilities.
Taking hand-washing seriously” for your health and for the senior’s health.
Types of Soap:
Plain Soap: removes surface residue but does not kill micro-organisms that are on the skin, instead it suspens the micro-organisms.
Anti-Microbial Soap: removes dirt and residue from your skin and uses an agent that will kill most micro-organisms after your hands are dry.
Anti-Septic Handrubs: these gel-type of disinfectants will decrease the micro-organisms on your skin but soap and water always best.
Caution for HAND-SANITIZER USE: SOAP and WATER ALWAYS BEST
Washing hands with soap and water assures you will reduce the number of germs and should always be your preferred cleanser. If soap and water are not available, use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer that contains at least 60% alcohol. Alcohol-based hand sanitizers can quickly reduce the number of germs on hands in some situations, but sanitizers do not eliminate all types of germs and might not remove harmful chemicals.
Hand sanitizers are not as effective when hands are visibly dirty or greasy.
Watch this video from the World Health Organization on Proper Hand Washing:
Now practice what you saw in the video, re-play if necessary. Practice makes perfect, use the proper hand washing technique in your everyday life, even when not working with a client and it will become habit.
Best Soap for Handwashing: Anti-microbial soap
Personal Protective Equipment:
Disposable Gloves: required when you may come into contact with blood or body fluids. Discard after use.
Disposable Aprons: wear to protect clothing from being contaminated with blood or body fluids and when there is a known infection.
Face Masks: wear if concerned the nose or mouth will be splashed when caring for someone with a contagious infection.
About Gloves: gloves may protect the person wearing the gloves but micro-organisms can be passed from the outside of the glove to the senior client.
Be Sure the Gloves are Clean on the Outside and DISCARD AFTER USE.
Gloves do NOT take the place of proper hygiene.
Key situations where hand hygiene should be performed include:
Before touching a patient, even if gloves will be worn.
Before exiting the patient’s care area after touching the patient or the patient’s immediate environment.
After contact with blood, body fluids or excretions, or wound dressings.
Prior to assisting with the performing an aseptic task such as implementation of I.V.
If hands will be moving from a contaminated-body site to a clean-body site during patient care.
After glove removal
How Infections Spread: Micro-organisms are also called germs and are tiny living things seen only with a microscope. This is why thoroughly washing your hands is important. Pathogenic organisms can produce diseases referred to as infections. Avoid infections by avoiding micro-organisms.
PUTTING ON GLOVES
Remove any sharp jewelry.
Gloves come in small, medium and large. Be sure to use the right size for your hands.
Remove gloves from box.
Most gloves are rubber latex and are pre-powdered. If allergic to latex then use vinyl gloves.
Hold glove with your thumb and forefinger and insert hand into gloves.
Work fingers into proper places.
REMOVING GLOVES WITHOUT CONTAMINATING YOUR HANDS
Pinch the palm of one glove and pull away from the palm.
Push fingers of the pinching hands upside the other glove, stretching glove material towards the cuff of the other glove until it emerges by the wrist.
Pull the fold down until the glove is almost off (you will be pulling the glove inside-out).
DO NOT take glove completely off.
Hook the ungloved thumb between the wrist and the skin of the other gloved hand and pull down, pulling both gloves off (both gloves will now be inside out.)
Dispose of the gloves properly.
SPILLS
Put on clean gloves.
Wipe up immediately by cleaning from the outside (cleanest) to the inside (dirtiest).
Use the appropriate cleaning agent.
Never pick up the glass, even with gloved hands.
Dispose of gloves and cleaning equipment and supplies.
Watch this video on benefits of hand washing, food safety, and caring for someone who is bed bound:
💡 Tip Sheet
Gloves do not take place of good hygiene, anti-microbial soap is best, fingernails harbor germs, wash hands before and after patient/client contact