Ruchi Kaushik, MD, MPH
Assistant Professor, Pediatrics, Baylor College of Medicine
Medical Director, ComP-CaN (Comprehensive Peds for Complex Needs)
Medical Director, Children’s Hospital of San Antonio Blog

December 3-9 is National Handwashing Awareness Week. You have heard health care professionals talk about hand washing repeatedly. Well, if they haven’t convinced you and your family/friends to lather up this holiday season, I bet these gruesome facts will!

• Approximately four out of five contagious diseases are passed by touching someone (and you just hugged your sister).
• Only one out of five people wash their hands before preparing food (and your mom made the turkey this year).
• Roughly one out of six cell phones have fecal (poop) matter on them (maybe because you just let your toddler nephew borrow yours?).
• Almost two out of five people don’t wash their hands after coughing, sneezing, or blowing their noses (and you just shook your boss’s hand).
• About seven percent of women and 15 percent of men do not wash their hands at all after using the bathroom. (EWWW! OK, that’s just gross.  And I really hope you don’t know anyone who does this.)

Now that you are thoroughly disgusted, let me share the benefits of the simple task of handwashing.

• Handwashing prevents one out of every three children from getting a diarrheal illness and one out of every five children from getting a respiratory illness (colds, flu, pneumonia).
• Handwashing education for children can improve school attendance.
• Preventing illnesses by handwashing results in less frequent use of antibiotics and can improve the likelihood of antibiotic resistance.

I am sure I have you hooked now, so let’s make sure you know the proper handwashing technique!  Just follow these five steps from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) every time.

• Wet your hands with clean, running water (warm or cold), turn off the tap, and apply soap.
• Lather your hands by rubbing them together with the soap. Lather the backs of your hands, between your fingers, and under your nails.
• Scrub your hands for at least 20 seconds. Try singing the “Happy Birthday” song from beginning to end twice to make sure you scrub long enough.
• Rinse your hands well under clean, running water.
• Dry your hands using a clean towel or air dry them. Wet hands can transfer germs more often than dry hands.

When should you wash your hands?

• Before, during, and after preparing food and before eating food.
• When caring for someone who is sick.
• When treating a cut or wound.
• After blowing your nose, coughing, or sneezing.
• After using the toilet.
• After changing diapers or cleaning up a child who has used the toilet.
• After touching an animal, animal feed, or animal waste.
• After touching garbage.

So lather up, rinse, and repeat as often as necessary!  Stay healthy this season.  For more information, visit www.cdc.gov.

If your child is ever a patient at The Children’s Hospital of San Antonio, we encourage you to ask your nurses, doctors and other caregivers if they have washed their hands when they enter your room.