Tag Archives: hand washing

Hints for happy and healthy hand washing

July 1, 2021 brevis-admin Leave a comment

Teaching kids healthy habits is important. But how do you get them to pay attention to a dull topic such as how to wash their hands? With a little creativity, both learning about hand washing and implementing that knowledge can be fun for kids.

Make the Process a Game

Correctly washing hands is essential to be effective. There are five steps: #1 wet, #2 lather, #3 scrub, #4 rinse, and #5 dry. Making a game out of learning these steps helps kids wash the right way. A parent can stand near the sink as the child prepares to wash his hands and say “1.” The child responds with “wet” and takes the corresponding action. This process is repeated for the next four steps. Kids are both saying and doing the step, which reinforces what they are learning.

Lave and Learn

Older children can use the required 20 seconds for hand washing to practice learning other things. For instance it is the perfect opportunity for them to count to 20 in a foreign language they are learning. Cleanliness can be next to language fluency.

Use of warm, soapy water is suggested for hand washing. Demonstrate the difference between hot, cold, and warm at the sink. Ask a young child to be Goldilocks. She can say the appropriate phrase depending on the water temperature: “This water is too hot,” “This water is too cold,” or “This water is warm and just right for hand washing!”

Even English lessons can occur while hand washing. Challenge your child to list as many adjectives as he can to describe the soap he is using. How does it smell? What does it feel like? What color is it?

Engage brains while hands are washed. Have kids recite where they got the germs being washed off. While scrubbing they can say, “I’m washing the germs off I got from petting Fido.” “I’m washing the germs off from the garbage can I took out for Mom.” This exercise opens their eyes as to how and where germs can be picked

Check It Out

Soap is key for hand washing. Pump soap comes in various smells and colors. Let your child choose the soap to use. If her favorite color is pink, she might be fascinated with pink-tinged Himalayan salt soap.

Hand washing can spark an inquiring mind. Offer both hand sanitizer and pump soap for use in the bathroom. Ask your child to report her observations. How do they compare? Are the textures different? Does one make her hands feel cleaner?

Be Creative

Encourage your child’s creativity during hand washing. Have him pretend he is doing a commercial for soap while washing his hands. He can talk to the mirror about why he likes this particular soap and why others should buy it. Or challenge him to think up a cool new scent of soap he would like to use. Would kids scream to wash their hands with ice cream soap?

Children need to understand hand washing is not a “splash and dash” activity. Effective hand washing lasts at least 20 seconds. People often sing “Happy Birthday” while washing their hands since it takes 20 seconds to sing it. Challenge your child to compose his own song to sing while washing his hands. A personalized song makes the hand washing time fun for them.

The More the Merrier

Siblings can enjoy a group activity. Tell them they are participating in a consumer survey. Offer three different soaps. After they have tried each one, ask them to rate the soaps as #1, #2, and #3 in preference. Are the children’s rankings different?

Sudsy Science

Perhaps your child would have a blast washing his hands if he is a mad scientist testing out his creation. Seeing is believing so have your children apply GlitterBug Potion with invisible glowing marker before washing. After washing have them view their hands under a blacklight. See any residual glowing? If so those are the most likely trouble spots. Task children with making a record of how many glowing areas they can see. Are certain areas glowing more commonly? Did they follow the five steps carefully? Do certain techniques minimize the glowing?

Only your imagination limits the number of ways to engage kids in hand washing. Making the activity enjoyable encourages kids to participate and results in healthy, happy, hand washing children.

Hand Sanitizer

Hand Sanitizer 101

May 14, 2021 brevis-admin Leave a comment

What’s the best way to keep from getting sick and making others sick? Washing your hands! If soap and water aren’t handy, you may reach for the next-best thing: hand sanitizer. These sanitizers contain active ingredients such as ethyl alcohol, ethanol or isopropanol designed to conquer those hard-to-kill bacteria and viruses that love to make you cough and sneeze.

Goodbye to Germs

When you squirt that hand sanitizer on your hands, rub vigorously. The friction will help get in the nooks and crannies of your hands. In these brief moments, the alcohol is attacking the bacteria’s outer casing or cell membrane. The bacteria cannot survive without its supportive walls, meaning you have cleaner, more germ-free hands.

Tips for Use

A catch exists for alcohol-based hand sanitizers: The sanitizers must contain enough alcohol to make an impact. Look for a hand sanitizer that has at least 60 percent alcohol. Otherwise, your hand sanitizer is a dud in terms of keeping your hands clean. To make matters worse, using a low-percentage hand sanitizer spreads germs around your hand, making them easier to spread, according to The New York Times.

You can tell you are using enough hand sanitizer by how fast the sanitizer evaporates. Once you apply the sanitizer to your hands, the product should take at least 15 seconds to evaporate, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Versus Handwashing

While effective, using hand sanitizers isn’t always the answer. Washing with soap and water is your best bet when your hands are visibly soiled. Hand sanitizers stop germs, but they don’t remove dirt, blood or stool. They also do not kill certain bacteria types, such as E.coli, a common bacteria present in raw or uncooked foods. When you’re cooking or have just gone to the bathroom, go with washing your hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds over using alcohol-based hand sanitizers.

Hand sanitizers do have an advantage over handwashing in that they are easier to access. You may not have a sink handy, but you can keep a small bottle of hand sanitizer in your desk, car, pocket or purse. This convenience appeals to healthcare workers and others who are always pressed to save time.

Secondly, frequent warm water and soap usage can dry out and crack your hands. This effect attracts bacteria to your hands. Hand sanitizer manufacturers can incorporate moisturizers to reduce cracking while keeping your hands clean.

How To See If Your Hands Have Been Properly Sanitized

One great way to see if you have applied hand sanitizer properly is by using GlitterBug® Gel. This product is formulated to be very similar to popular hand sanitizers but it has a special ingredient that glows when illuminated by black light. Apply the GlitterBug Gel and rub it in as if it were regular hand sanitizer. Then examine your hands under black light from the Brevis GlowBarLED lamp. The GBX molded disclosure center is ideal for viewing the results because it shields out extraneous or ambient light thus enhancing perception. After using the GlitterBug Gel you should see the entirety of your hands glowing. Any dark areas that do not glow are areas that may not have been safely sanitized. Visual feedback to help improve technique and therefore safety.

Best teaching products for hand sanitizer use

You may find these products helpful in your mission to improve hand hygiene:
GBX Disclosure Center with Gel
GlowBar LED Lamp
GlitterBug Gel

Flu, Hand Hygiene, Handwashing Saves Lives, Infection prevention

Can the holidays make you sick?

December 4, 2018 brevis-admin Leave a comment

What makes us get sick more often during the holiday season?

Many theories have been postulated and studied over the years and many factors are blamed for being virus enablers. Closer proximity of hosts (us) within closed spaces makes transmission easier due to the shared air we breathe while indoors and the common surfaces we touch as people share confined areas. Further, foods are presented and ingested in areas with higher germ populations due to the foregoing.

Other theories suggest that inactivity and depression generally increases with the cold and gloomy weather and this coupled with decreased exposure to the sun may tend to inhibit our immune systems.

We suspect that all of these factors and more contribute to the seasonal spike in illnesses. But, there are some commons sense actions that can help reduce your chances of being the next holiday (infection) host. The most effective way to reduce your risks of seasonal sickness is to wash your hands often, especially after shaking hands, touching surfaces in common areas such as handrails and countertops and especially before eating.

In the spirit of holiday cheer (and microbial fear) check out these funny new flu and handwashing posters meant to remind with mirth and good cheer.

Healthy holidays to all.

New Flu & Handwashing Posters

^{Image of flu close up by cdc.gov.}

Hand Hygiene, Handwashing Saves Lives

Government Study Says You’re Washing Your Hands the Wrong Way

Image August 8, 2018 brevis-admin Leave a comment

…Which Is Gross and You Should Fix It

Hey, did you wash your hands recently? Well, you probably did it wrong. CNN pointed out a recent government study found that 97 percent of the time, people fail to properly wash their hands—a problem that can lead to all sorts of unnecessary illnesses being spread.

According to the US Department of Agriculture, people are falling short of meeting the standards for acceptable handwashing set by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The bar to make sure your hands are sufficiently clean requires you to wash and scrub with soap for at least 20 seconds.

The study looked at 363 people in six kitchen test facilities located in the Raleigh-Durham region of North Carolina and in the town of Smithfield, North Carolina. What it found was nearly every person working in the kitchens failed to reach the handwashing standard set by the CDC, which is probably not reassuring if you’re currently out to eat at a restaurant in Tar Heel State.

Read on Gizmodo

GlitterBug handwashing products

By AJ Dellinger / gizmodo.com

Handwashing Saves Lives, Infection prevention

A virus spreads in just 2 hours. Why the war on germs is in your hands.

Image November 8, 2017 brevis-admin Leave a comment

Germs are everywhere. In optimal conditions a virus can divide every 20 minutes, spreading rapidly where they dwell. In fact, contamination of a single doorknob can lead to the spread of viruses throughout an office building or hotel in as little as two hours.

Researchers from the University of Arizona, Tucson, placed a tracer virus on commonly touched objects such as a doorknob or tabletop. At multiple time intervals (from two-to-eight hours) the researchers sampled a range of surfaces including light switches, bed rails, countertops, sink tap handles, and push buttons. And guess what? Nearly 60 percent of the surfaces were contaminated within two-to-four hours.

“If we placed a tracer virus on the push plate to an office building, it ended up on almost 50 percent of the high-touch surfaces of officer workers’ hands within four hours,” says study author and microbiologist Charles Gerba, PhD. “In the case of the hotel, we placed the virus on the nightstand in one room, and it was spread to the next four rooms by the maid during cleaning.” Also, the first item to become contaminated in the workplace was the coffee pot handle. Other contamination hot spots are phones, computers, and desktops.

Of course, our own bodies play host to around 100 trillion microbes that together weigh more than two pounds. They are present on our skin, in our guts, in the crooks of our elbows, and just about everywhere else. Your immune system protects against most microorganisms, but there are hundreds of thousands of different kinds of germs, and some of them are good at mutating into things your body doesn’t recognize. And they make you sick.

To get an idea of just how many microbes we carry—and which ones spread fastest—researchers are even testing our most intimate possessions: our cell phones. In a small study, University of Oregon scientists tested the index fingers and thumbs of 17 subjects, along with the touchscreens of their smartphones. As you might expect, they found an 82 percent overlap between the most common types of bacteria found on participants’ fingers and on their phones.

So your cell phone is covered with a personal bacterium cocktail? Clean it with a soft cloth dampened with water and wipe it down, or use a disposable wipe made specifically for cleaning electronic screens. Use a cotton swab to get the dirt and grime out of small nooks in the phone. The same goes for all of your other gadgets, too, including remote controls, headphones and ear buds, your computer keyboard, mouse, and tablet screen.

Yes, the war on germs is in your hands. Handwashing is the number one way to prevent the spread of germs and illness. Just make sure you’re doing it right. Friction (especially between the fingers) and duration—20 seconds with running water—are both important. And anything your hands touch are carriers. Learn all about handwashing here.

Here’s something else to think about: On average, an office desk has 400 times more bacteria than a toilet seat. It’s not surprising; the toilet is cleaned regularly. And remote controls, computer keyboards, phones, and iPods get touched way more than the toilet. Multiple coworkers and guest also share them—yet they are cleaned less often. You can find component-specific cleaning supplies at electronics stores. However, most disinfecting wipes are safe for electronics—just make sure to read the label before using them.

This one seems obvious, but how often do you walk around your home or office and wipe off doorknobs, cabinet handles, and light switches? You really should give them a once-over using disinfecting wipes—and don’t use the same wipe for more than a few places before grabbing a fresh one.

It’s easy to keep things clean. Soap and water. Bleach and water. Disinfecting wipes. Common sense. With these simple weapons, the battle against germs can be won. But the first step is you. Now go wash your hands!

Flu Posters

Infection prevention

Spring Cleaning for hand hygiene: sanitizing the areas we touch most often

April 14, 2017 brevis-admin Leave a comment

It’s that time of year again, time for spring cleaning! For you this might mean cleaning out your garage, or a complete closet overhaul. Whatever your situation, spring cleaning is also a great time for a routine deep-cleaning of some of the spots in your home most likely to accumulate germs.

It may not surprise you to know that a high concentration of germs is likely to be found in areas we frequently touch with our hands. We know washing our hands is the best way to prevent the spread of infection, so it’s easy to understand the need for cleanliness in areas we often touch with our hands.

Here are just five:

Bathroom Sinks Some studies suggest bathroom sinks are often dirtier than toilet seats! Use an antibacterial spray for a five-minute soak before wiping it down, and polish handles and spouts with vinegar.

Kitchen Countertops Before using and after meal prep, make sure your workspace is clean. How you clean it depends on the kind of countertop you have. While you’re at it, pay special attention to corners, and also any appliances you use.

Doorknobs and Drawer Handles Whether you’re coming in from outside or taking the trash out, a whole world of germs is daily introduced to doorknobs. Again, your cleaning method depends on the kind of knobs and handles you have (brass and silver, for example, require special cleaners), but clean these areas weekly.

Switchplates Turning a light on or off can be done in under one second, but think about how often we do this throughout the day. Use a warm, wet cloth with dish soap to clean switch plates once per week.

Devices and Screens These might be the most-touched– and least-cleaned– items in most homes. Do not get electronics wet while cleaning; when a damp cloth is needed, be sure to immediately dry. Use canned air or a microfiber cloth for keyboards. Touchscreen wipes can be used on cellphones and other screens.

If you haven’t already begun your spring cleaning, these are some good places to start. Keeping these areas clean reduces re-contamination of your hands.

Sources:

http://www.familycircle.com/home/cleaning/vanquish-the-germiest-spots-in-your-home-0/

https://www.cdc.gov/features/handwashing/

Photo courtesy of Pixabay:

https://pixabay.com/en/interior-villa-rendering-1026446/

Handwashing Saves Lives

Patient and physician co-washing may increase clinic hand washing

April 2, 2017 brevis-admin Leave a comment

Accountability.

And partnership.

We know that when we have both, good things usually occur.

The March/April 2017 issue of the Annals of Family Medicine discusses a new approach to outpatient hand washing involving that involves both partnership and accountability: patient and physician co-washing.

And preliminary studies show that this practice may increase hand washing.

Gregory A. Doyle, M.D. (from West Virginia University in Morgantown), and his colleagues tested a new approach involving patient and physician hand washing.

Clinicians offered sanitizer to the patient and used the sanitizer to wash their own hands in front of the patient.

Data were included from 384 questionnaires: 184 from phase 1 (pre-intervention) and 200 from phase 2 (post-intervention).

The researchers found that, according to patients, doctors washed their hands 96.6 and 99.5 percent of the time before examining them pre-intervention and post-intervention, respectively.

Overall, 98.7 percent of the time patients endorsed the importance of hand washing.

“Further research is recommended to determine whether ‘co-washing’ enhances clinic hand washing or hand washing at home by patients, and whether it can reduce infection rates,” the authors write.

Want more information about hand hygiene and overall health? Check out these book at brevis.com!

Hand Hygiene, Handwashing Saves Lives

Sing a Song About Hand-Washing

October 27, 2016 brevis-admin Leave a comment

Songs get stuck in our heads and we remember all sorts of things, from useless lyrics, to rules of grammar (Schoolhouse Rock, Anyone?). We use a song to teach the alphabet to children, so why not use songs to teach other important information?

Nigerian pop singer Sunny Neji decided to use his influence to help teach people the importance of hand hygiene. “People love music, so if I could construct a lovely melody and put in some memorable words, it could stick in people’s minds faster.”

The result? An upbeat song called, “Wash Your Hands O!”

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Lyrics like, “Prevention is cheaper than cure,” or, “Dirty hands, they carry disease,” will likely make kids and adults smile or even laugh, but you have to admit: the message is clear, and the tune is catchy.

Happy Hands for Students

October 21, 2016 brevis-admin Leave a comment

Educators know that keeping hands clean is one of the best things kids can do to prevent illness and the spreading of germs to others. Brevis products like GlitterBug Gel and GlitterBug Potion provide fun ways for kids to learn the effectiveness of handwashing techniques.

Right now there’s another way to get kids excited about hand hygiene. Deb’s Happy Hands Contest educates students about the importance of handwashing while giving them a chance to show their artistic creativity by submitting original designs to be featured on soap dispensers.

Educators can register their school on the website, and submit their students’ designs by December 5. Top finalists in three categories (elementary, middle, and high school) will be announced January 16, and public voting will be open for one month. Winners will be announced March 1, 2017.

Each winning design receives three prizes: a $500 donation to the winning student’s school, a $200 gift card for the student, and up to 500 soap dispensers to display the winning design in the school.

Getting kids involved in hand hygiene awareness in creative, memorable ways– whether through a dispenser design contest, or a GlitterBug demonstration— is a win for everyone.

**SPECIAL NOTE:

Brevis is offering a promo-code discount for Fall 2016 that will start Sept. 20 and go through October 31, 2016.

The promo code is “Fall16” which will apply a 10% discount to orders over $25.00.

Sources:

http://info.debgroup.com/happyhands

http://www.cdc.gov/handwashing/

http://www.debgroup.com/us

http://www.brevis.com/blog/2016/08/glitterbug-gel-a-primer/

http://www.brevis.com/blog/2016/09/glitterbug-potion/

http://www.brevis.com/blog/2016/08/back-to-school-with-glitterbug/