Hand Health:Taking Care of Your Mitts

Hand health, the word does sound a little weird but, if you do not take care of your hands, it can lead to a lot of complications. Hand health is highly recommended in hospitals to prevent nosocomial infections. Studies prove that proper hand hygiene can actually reduce the spread of bacteria.

Incase, you are working in a hospital, and do not pay concentration to the hygiene of your hands then, you can prove to be fatal not only to yourself but, also to the other innocent ones. Sometimes there are chances that your hands will get contaminated even without your knowledge, as you do your normal duties like, taking the patients blood pressure or pulse, assisting with the patient's mobility or even touching the patient's gown and bed sheet will contaminate your hand which is normally ignored by everyone.

If your hands are soiled, dirty or contaminated with blood or body fluids, you must wash your hands with soap and water. Plain soap will do the job however, antimicrobial soaps are preferred. Washing your hands before eating your food should be a habit. And washing your hands immediately after using the washroom is a must.

You must make sure that you wash your hands before and after you have touched a sick person. Hands have to be washed while handling animals and even animal waste.

While you wash your hands, keep these little things in mind, so that you can be ensured that your hands are bacteria free.

- Avoid hot water when you wash your hands.
- Don't use a lot of soap, unnecessarily, thinking that it will kill all the bacteria. This is not necessary; just use around 3ml to 5ml of soap, which is more than sufficient.
- You must rub your hands with soap for at least 15 seconds, to kill the bacteria.
- See to that you wash your fingers also.
- Pat them dry; do not leave any moisture in between your fingers.

Alcohol based hand rubs are preferred by a lot of health care centers as they reduce the number of micro organism on the hand and prevents from skin irritation. And these alcohol hand rubs should not be used when your hands are visibly soiled. If your job demands you to wash your hands on a frequent basis, these hand rubs are the best. as they do not cause any irritation or dryness, which is the case when normal soap is used frequently. Using gloves can also prevent your hands from getting contaminated.

If proper care is not taken to maintain your hand hygiene, you will be forced to face problems like Repetitive Strain Injuries, Traumatic Injuries, Bumps, Cysts, Cords and Arthritis.

Hand hygiene can prevent many of the common ailments like diarrhea, which is very common among children. The is because hand is the main culprit when it comes to spreading germs, these germs cause common illnesses like cold, flu, stomach pain and others. So it is important to maintain your hand health.