Dr. Edward Group - 2 out of 3 Medical Students Do Not Know When to Wash Their Hands

Even though it’s an easy way to help reduce the spread of infectious diseases, like influenza and the common cold, some of us probably wash our hands less often than we should. Toxic alcohol-based sanitizing foams and wipes that can be used quickly and without water have made made it easy to keep our hands clean yet some people wait until after they use the bathroom or become visibly soiled before cleaning up.

If it’s any consolation, doctors in-training apparently aren’t much better.

Data collected by German researchers at the Institute for Medical Microbiology and Hospital Epidemiology at Hannover Medical School indicates fewer than one-third of medical students actually know when they’re supposed to wash their hands.

A total of 85 third-year medical students at Hannover Medical School were given a list of seven common hospital scenarios and asked to identify which situations merited hand sanitation, and which did not. Of the seven scenarios presented, five called for washing up afterwards.

These included “before contact to a patient,” “before preparation of intravenous fluids,” “after contact to vomit,” “after removal of gloves,” and “after contact to the patient’s bed.” Roughly 80 percent of students surveyed failed to answer all seven questions correctly. Only one in three managed to at least identify those situations in which hand hygiene should be practiced.

Read More:

http://www.globalhealingcenter.com/natural-health/medical-students-do-not-know-to-wash-hands/