Handwashing

Hand hygiene is one of the most important ways to stop the spread of germs. About 80% of communicable diseases are transferred by touch alone. Therefore, practicing proper and timely hand hygiene, either by washing hands with soap and water or using an alcohol-based hand rub, is essential to helping break the chain of infection. (York Regional Health)

The scrubbing process, coupled with soap, makes it hard for pathogens to cling to the surface of the hands and they are then easily washed down the drain under the running water.

To properly wash your hands:

Turn on the tap, hotter water is better, but not too hot that you cannot keep your hands under the stream.
Apply soap to your hands and begin to scrub
Make sure you scrub the backs of your hands, between the fingers, the base of the thumb, and the fingertips
Continue to scrub for approximately 20 seconds - you can sing the alphabet song twice to help time yourself
Rinse your hands under the water, ensuring that all the soap is rinsed off
Dry your hands with a paper towel or a clean towel
Use the paper towel to turn off the tap

How to Wash Your Hands

Proper handwashing seems pretty straight forward, but takes practice! As you learned in the previous module, you need to follow the steps thoroughly. Watch the video by Ottawa Public Health to learn how to properly wash your hands for maximum protection against infection.

Soap vs. Hand Sanitizer

Your hands, up close, are anything but smooth. With peaks and valleys, folds and rifts, there are plenty of hiding places for a virus to stick. If you then touch your face, the virus can infect you. But there are two extraordinarily simple ways you can keep that from happening: soap and water, and hand sanitizer. So which is better? Alex Rosenthal and Pall Thordarson investigate.

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Handwashing

Handwashing

The scrubbing process, coupled with soap, makes it hard for pathogens to cling to the surface of the hands and they are then easily washed down the drain under the running water.

To properly wash your hands:

Turn on the tap, hotter water is better, but not too hot that you cannot keep your hands under the stream.

Apply soap to your hands and begin to scrub

Make sure you scrub the backs of your hands, between the fingers, the base of the thumb, and the fingertips

Continue to scrub for approximately 20 seconds - you can sing the alphabet song twice to help time yourself

Rinse your hands under the water, ensuring that all the soap is rinsed off

Dry your hands with a paper towel or a clean towel

Use the paper towel to turn off the tap

How to Wash Your Hands

Soap vs. Hand Sanitizer