Proper Handwashing and Glove Removal

 

Back to Video List

Hi. I'm Mark for CPR Certification Institute. You want to reduce your risk of catching a bloodborne pathogen? Wear your PPE, wear your gloves. You want to reduce the risk of spreading a bloodborne pathogen? Good effective hand washing. When it comes to minimizing the spread of infection, nothing is more important than good hand washing, so today, hand washing and proper glove removal. Let's head over to the sink.

Okay. CDC guidelines for hand washing. Sounds silly, right? Step one, get your hands wet. If you have a foot actuator, better yet so you don't have to touch the knobs. Get your hands wet. Next, apply the soap, and you're going to scrub all surfaces of the hands for 20 seconds starting now. I'm getting in between the fingers, the tops, the sides, in between the nail beds, all the surfaces. You're going to continue to scrub for 20 seconds. CDC guidelines. At least 20 seconds. Sometimes you may have to scrub longer. Getting all the surfaces. Ding. Times up. Rinse, and then thoroughly dry your hands.

Now, what nobody knows, not even the sound guys know, that before I washed my hands, I secretly coated my hands with a chemical that will show up when I hit it with a blue light so we can see how effective my hand washing really was. As you can see, even after 20 seconds of vigorous hand washing, your hands probably are not as clean as you think they are. That's why also we recommend use of a hand sanitizer afterwards. Higher alcohol content is better, 60-90%, and the key to using a sanitizer after washing is allowing it to dry. If you just rub the sanitizer on and then you wipe it off, it doesn't work as well. It has to be allowed to dry.

Using your gloves. Unless there's sterile gloves, it really doesn't matter how you put them on. The only thing I would recommend is that when I'm using non-sterile gloves, my regular PPE gloves, select a glove size so you have a nice fit, so they fit tight against your fingers. Not so tight it's cutting off the circulation, but tight enough that you can feel a vein, you can do fine motor work, work a needle. Your gloves need to be tight.

When removing gloves, especially bloody gloves, remember this. Glove to glove, skin to skin. That means only glove touches glove, and only skin touches skin. Glove to glove first. I'm right handed, so the first thing I do is I grab the cuff with my gloved hand of my right glove. Glove to glove, remove that. Then skin to skin. I take these fingers. I go underneath this glove, skin to skin, and then peel it back off. Then you can take the whole thing and you can drop it in the trash can. Resist the temptation to shoot it into the trash can. Resist the temptation to shoot it across the room into the trash can. Resist the urge to start a competition shooting the gloves across the room into the trash can. Resist the temptation to shoot your friend in the back of the head with your gloves. Always properly dispose of your gloves.

I'm Mark for CPR Certification Institute. This has been a quick review of hand washing and proper glove removal. Now, you are very close to being CPR certified. Just log on to our website at cprcertification.com. Thanks for watching. See you in the next video.