Hand washing procedures

 

Always wash your hands in front of the patient. You should wash your hands before you start the exam and at the end of the exam. You do not want to expose a patient to your germs or a previous patient's germs. You also do not want to spread germs from this patient to other patients.

 

Step 1.

Turn on water.

Use warm water.

Soap hands

 soap hands
between fingers

 

Step 2.

Work soap into a lather.

Wash vigorously between your fingers.

Wash for about 15 seconds.

 

Step 3.

Wash the backs of your hands

 backs of hands

rinse hands

 

Step 4.

Rinse well under warm water

 

Step 5A.

Turning off the water by using the back of your hand. Do not touch the sink with your hands.

 turn off water with back of hand

turn off water with towel

 

Step 5B.

A second method of turning off the water is to use a paper towel.

 

Step 6.

Dry with paper towel

 dry hands

dispose of paper towels

 

Step 7.

Properly dispose of your paper towel.

Click to view Quicktime video on hand washing.

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