

Wash your hands - adamo
http://blog.postmaster.gr/2009/05/15/wash-your-hands/

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DanielStraight
Am I missing something or is this study about hand washing before patient
contact, not hand washing after using the toilet? I realize this isn't the
main point, but to me it suggests that the author didn't actually bother to
read the study they're citing. I wonder what percent of the time the author
would estimate they read the studies they cite...

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aerique
I don't accept that doctors believed they washed their hands 73% of the time.
I think simply lied when asked that question since, as doctors, they knew full
well that they should have washed their hands.

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noonespecial
Pilots solved this a long time ago. We call it a checklist. Anything that
might kill you if you miss it is on there. It works ridiculously well.

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tomjen2
That might be useful if you had something complicated to remember, but
wouldn't you tend to ignore a checklist that had as a single point "Wash your
hands"?

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sp332
Not if you have to sign & date it every time.

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fan
I'd like to see the paper that shows medical doctors only wash their hands 9%
of times after going to the bathroom.

The number is mind-blowingly low, especially since when I'm in public
restrooms myself, the number of people who wash their hands seems to be in the
majority.

Of course, my sampling could be off because people could be self concious of
being watched, doctors could be in more of a rush, etc. But 9%? That's an
incredible data point and needs incredible evidence.

Edit: Went back and read the original study. First of all, the study isn't
about washing hands after the /toilet/ at all, but rather about washing hands
after /patient contact/. Second, nowhere obvious in the study does it say that
doctors believe they washed hands 73% of times. In fact, there is no mention
of any survey whatsoever...

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DanielStraight
Not that it was easy to find, but it was there:

""Fourteen of these 19 subjects subsequently participated in the remain- ing
phases of the program. Among this cohort, the mean self-estimated handwashing
rate was 73% (range, 50%-95%), compared with the covertly observed rate for
this cohort of 8.6% before and 10.8% after patient contact, with an individual
mean rate of 10% (range, 0-33%)."

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RyanMcGreal
This is shockingly widespread:

<http://raisethehammer.org/article/868>

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Tichy
I think physicians learn in their studies that washing one's hands does not
help all that much. They do actual experiments testing how long you would have
to rinse your hands to get a significant amount of bacteria off it - it is a
very long time.

Recently I read a study (or talked with a doctor who told me about it, can't
remember) saying that it is actually more efficient to use disinfectants
occasionally (ie on demand) instead of washing one's hands all the time.
People tend to be wary of disinfectants because they tend to sting on the
skin, but apparently the stinging is only a sign that the skin is already
damaged. Apparently the disinfectants also contain stuff that is good for the
skin, so using them is not as bad as it seems.

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bmunro
Not true. A quick hand wash gets rid of almost all the bacteria. Fungi take a
bit more scrubbing to get rid of.

I found this out in first year university biology. We swabbed and cultured our
hands before and after washing with plain soap. Almost no colony forming units
of bacteria are left after a short wash. A reasonable amount of the fungi is
still there though.

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Tichy
I heard different things from various physicians, is all I can say.

Maybe that experiment should be done at school with all children.

