NRS 428 Benchmark Community Teaching Presentation

Sample Answer

Introduction

In this presentation, I will take you through the importance of Handwashing using soap and water to control pathogens and spread of infections.
By the end of this presentation, you should;

1. Describe the significance of grouping the cases when one needs to wash hands.
2. Illustrate the effective handwashing technique
3. State at least five diseases that can be prevented through proper handwashing.
4. Explain at least five benefits of effective handwashing practices

Handwashing

Handwashing is the single most effective way to prevent infections. It is recommended that you wash your hands with soap and water because handwashing effectively removes germs, dirt, and chemicals from hands (Berhanu et al., 2022).

We easily get germs on our hands in our day to day activities including shaking hands, touching a doorknob, pressing an elevator button, and grabbing a pole on public transit. Once these germs are on our hands, touching the mouth or nose increases the risk of us getting sick as the germs spread from the hands to the mouth and nose.

Sneezing and coughing spreads germs into the air. However, most colds are caught and the causative pathogens are spread through people’s hands. The viruses that cause flu, like norovirus, enterovirus, and corona-virus are also picked and spread through our hands (Alzyood et al., 2020).

Benefits of effective handwashing practices

Appropriately washing our hands has the benefit of protecting us from the following infectious diseases;

• Eye infections
• ENT infections- Strep throat, Mononucleosis
• Respiratory infections- influenza, Common colds, and coronavirus
• Gastrointestinal infections- Diarrheal diseases, Gastroenteritis,
• Giardiasis (Khan et al., 2021).
• Hepatitis A

When to wash your hands

Always wash hands before;

• Touching or serving food
• Eating or drinking
• Putting in or removing contact lenses
• Treating a cut, burn, scrape or blister (CDC, 2023).
• Taking care of a person who is sick

Always wash your hands after;

• Visiting the washroom
• Helping someone else use the washroom
• Changing a diaper
• Coughing, sneezing, blowing your nose, or wiping a child’s nose (CDC, 2023).
• Handling uncooked food, particularly raw meat, poultry, fish or eggs
• Handling garbage
• Touching animals, animal feeds, or animal waste
• Handlin a person who is ill or injured (CDC, 2023).
• Using public transportation

Handwashing Procedure

This is how you should clean your hands;

1. Wet hands with clean (not hot) water.
2. Apply soap.
3. Rub hands together for about 20 seconds
4. Rinse with clean water
5. Dry with disposable towel or air dry
6. Use towel to turn off the faucet

Hand washing -Areas missed

During handwashing, majority of people miss 89% of the hand surface. The areas of the hands most often missed are the finger-tips, fingerwebs, the palms and the thumbs (Berhanu et al., 2022).

References

• Alzyood, M., Jackson, D., Aveyard, H., & Brooke, J. (2020). COVID‐19 reinforces the importance of handwashing. Journal of clinical nursing, 29(15-16), 2760. DOI 10.1111/jocn.15313
• Berhanu, A., Mengistu, D. A., Temesgen, L. M., Mulat, S., Dirirsa, G., Alemu, F. K., Mangasha, A. E., Gobena, T., & Geremew, A. (2022). Hand washing practice among public primary school children and associated factors in Harar town, eastern Ethiopia An institution-based cross-sectional study. Frontiers in public health, 10, 975507. https //doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2022.975507
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (2023 May 4). Handwashing in Communities Clean Hands Save Lives.https //www.cdc.gov/handwashing/why-handwashing.html
• Khan, S., Ashraf, H., Iftikhar, S., & Baig-Ansari, N. (2021). Impact of hand hygiene intervention on hand washing ability of school-aged children. Journal of family medicine and primary care, 10(2), 642–647. https //doi.org/10.4103/jfmpc.jfmpc_1906_20