Shula on wed 7 oct 09
>From: Ingeborg Foco
>Sent: Oct 6, 2009 8:28 PM
>To: Clayart@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG
>Subject: Re: Re; cleaning teapots 2/OT
>
> Actually, It is proven that plain CLEAN water and motion (rubbing your
>> hands) is effective in eliminating germs. All sorts of anticeptic soap=
=3D
s
>> and potions are not necessary under normal cirumstances.
I am a nurse and while I am aware that ordinary soap is all you need to eff=
=3D
ectively clean your hands, I have never heard that plain, clean water is ef=
=3D
fective. I would like to read the research that supports it.=3D20
When I was in nursing school (5 years ago), there were alcohol-based hand s=
=3D
anitizers outside of each patient's rooms as well as sinks with soap in eac=
=3D
h patient's room in the hospitals in which I cared for patients. We were ta=
=3D
ught to clean our hands both before and after caring for the patient. Patie=
=3D
nts sometimes get infections while they are in the hospital. Frequent clean=
=3D
ing of hands via soap and water or alcohol-based hand sanitizers helps to p=
=3D
revent these infections from spreading from patient to patient. (We also wo=
=3D
re gloves for many procedures and washed our hands after removing the glove=
=3D
s.) Fairly recently, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) h=
=3D
as decided that it will not reimburse hospitals for specific nosocomial inf=
=3D
ections(infections which are a result of treatment in a hospital or a healt=
=3D
hcare service unit, but secondary to the patient's original condition), so =
=3D
that is another reason why you may notice more hand sanitizers around hospi=
=3D
tals these days. Of course, some people do fear H1N1 and may now have alcoh=
=3D
ol-based sanitizers displayed more prominently on their desks - for theirs =
=3D
and your protection.
By the way, when washing your hands with (ordinary) soap and water, effecti=
=3D
ve hand washing includes rubbing your hands vigorously together for at leas=
=3D
t 15 to 20 seconds before rinsing off the soap.=3D20
See also, CDC (Centers for Disease Control) http://www.cdc.gov/cleanhands/
Shula, RN
Desert Hot Springs, California USA=3D20
Jess McKenzie on wed 7 oct 09
I have almost 40 years experience in this area (Chem/Bio/Rad
safety), and I must chime in to say Ingeborg is almost
completely wrong (plain water is better than nothing, of
course), and Shula is right on the money. There have been
studies with those sanitizer squirts which showed them to be
fairly effective, but soap and water almost always work best.
BTW, 15-20 seconds may seem like a long time, but Shula is
right on that too. Maybe singing "Happy Birthday" will work.
... if you do it in 15 sec.
I've been reading these opinions about biosafety with
interest. About half of them remind me of what Pliny the
Elder told the shoemaker who tried to give him advice:
Ne supra crepidam sutor iudicaret.
When you give advice, remember that someone may follow it.
An old army saying about giving opinions also applies here.
Only a partial quote; this is mixed company: "Everybody's got
one."
With the best of intentions ... ~jess
Jess M. McKenzie, PhD
>From: Ingeborg Foco
>Sent: Oct 6, 2009 8:28 PM
>To: Clayart@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG
>Subject: Re: Re; cleaning teapots 2/OT
>
> Actually, It is proven that plain CLEAN water and motion (rubbing
> your
>> hands) is effective in eliminating germs. All sorts of
anticeptic
>> soaps and potions are not necessary under normal
cirumstances.
I am a nurse and while I am aware that ordinary soap is all
you need
to effectively clean your hands, I have never heard that
plain, clean
water is effective. I would like to read the research that
supports
it.
When I was in nursing school (5 years ago), there were
alcohol-based
hand sanitizers outside of each patient's rooms as well as
sinks with
soap in each patient's room in the hospitals in which I cared
for
patients. We were taught to clean our hands both before and
after
caring for the patient. Patients sometimes get infections
while they
are in the hospital. Frequent cleaning of hands via soap and
water or
alcohol-based hand sanitizers helps to prevent these
infections from
spreading from patient to patient. (We also wore gloves for
many
procedures and washed our hands after removing the gloves.)
Fairly
recently, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)
has
decided that it will not reimburse hospitals for specific
nosocomial
infections(infections which are a result of treatment in a
hospital or
a healthcare service unit, but secondary to the patient's
original
condition), so that is another reason why you may notice more
hand
sanitizers around hospitals these days. Of course, some people
do fear
H1N1 and may now have alcohol-based sanitizers displayed more
prominently on their desks - for theirs and your protection.
By the way, when washing your hands with (ordinary) soap and
water,
effective hand washing includes rubbing your hands vigorously
together
for at least 15 to 20 seconds before rinsing off the soap.
See also, CDC (Centers for Disease Control)
http://www.cdc.gov/cleanhands/
Shula, RN
Desert Hot Springs, California USA
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