Current Medical Issues

Clean Hands - A Critical Issue

Protect yourself and your children from infection. Use the hand hygiene guidelines below, developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to prevent or reduce the rate of infection. These simple guidelines can be easily adapted to the school environment and carried through in the
home environment.

Recommended Hand Hygiene Techniques

• Alcohol-based hand rubs/gels - Application is the key. Apply to palm of one hand. Rub hands together covering all surfaces until dry. The volume used is based on the manufacturer. Let it dry!
• Handwashing - Wet hands with water, apply soap, and rub hands together for at least 15 seconds. Rinse and dry with disposable towel. Use towel to turn off the faucet.

Hand hygiene for yourself and your children should occur:

• Upon arrival at school
• Immediately before and after eating
• After using the toilet
• After contacting any body fluids, including wet or soiled diapers, runny noses, spit, or vomit
• After handling pets, pet cages, or other pet objects
• Whenever hands are visibly dirty or after cleaning
• After removing gloves used for any purpose
• Before giving or applying medication or ointment
• Before going home

The CDC has developed and is promoting hand hygiene guidelines (hand washing or use of alcoholbased hand rubs) to terminate outbreaks in health care facilities, to reduce transmission of antimicrobial-resistant organisms such as methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and to reduce overall infection rates Hand washing with soap and water remains a sensible strategy for hand hygiene. However, most people wash their hands for limited time periods, and often fail to cover all surfaces of their hands and fingers. If done incorrectly, hand washing has little or no effect.

Current scientific findings by the CDC indicate that alcohol-based hand rubs significantly reduce the number of microorganisms on the skin. These alcohol-based products are more effective than soap or antimicrobial soaps. They are fast-acting and cause less skin irritation. Products such as instant hand sanitizers with alcohol solutions containing 60%-95% alcohol are most effective. Using higher concentrations was found to be less potent. Commonly purchased over the counter products usually have a 62% ethyl alcohol active ingredient.

Alcohol-based products are not appropriate for use when hands are visibly dirty or contaminated with proteinaceous materials (e.g., blood). However, when relatively small amounts are present, ethanol and isopropanol may reduce viable bacterial counts on hands more than plain soap or antimicrobial soap.

Washing hands with soap and water after each use of an alcohol-based hand rub is not necessary and is not recommended because it may lead to dermatitis. However, because you may feel a buildup on your hands after repeated use of alcohol-based hand rubs, washing hands with soap and water after 5-10 applications has been recommended by certain manufacturers.