Hand Washing and Hand Hygiene

Why are children repeatedly told to wash their hands before eating and after using the bathroom? It’s because hand hygiene is one of the simplest yet most effective ways to prevent the spread of infections in everyday life. In health care settings, hand hygiene is even more critical for the health and wellbeing of both patients and medical staff. Read on to learn how to properly wash your hands and teach your kids proper hygiene for optimal lifelong health!

Washing your hands – Why it’s important 

Washing your hands helps prevent the spread of germs, viruses and bad bacteria. Throughout your day your hands are exposed to many surfaces. You also use your hands to type, eat food, consume beverages, drive, use your phone and more. You may not even be aware of all your hands touch throughout your day. Washing your hands regularly can keep you healthy and reduce the risk of infections, colds and illness.

Use soap and water to wash your hands properly and follow these hand washing tips to maintain your hand hygiene. Always wash your hands before you eat or cook and after you use the bathroom. Make hand washing a habit you do regularly and mindfully.

Proper hand hygiene

Hand hygiene is essential in health care settings because it plays a critical role in preventing the spread of infections. By thoroughly cleaning hands, health care providers can reduce the transmission of germs and bacteria that could lead to serious infections, especially in vulnerable populations such as children. Proper hand hygiene not only protects patients but also ensures a safer environment for families and health care staff.

Implementing proper hand hygiene for yourself and your children can prevent the spread of infections. Getting children to wash their hands properly starting at a young age can set them up with proper hand hygiene for life. You’ll be surprised how many kids don’t know how to wash their hands properly or choose to only rinse hands with water quickly.

What is hand hygiene compliance?

Hand hygiene compliance is a standard used in health care settings to show the percent of time that health care workers wash their hands. View the high hand hygiene compliance rate at Texas Children’s.

How Texas Children’s improves hand hygiene compliance

Every employee of Texas Children’s is required to practice good hand hygiene to minimize the risk of infection for patients, their families and other staff members.

We practice the highest standards in hand hygiene compliance

Throughout our hospitals and clinics, signage reminds everyone – including our patients and visitors – to wash their hands or use a sanitizing gel, which is available in dispensers throughout our facilities. Each patient room has a sanitizing gel dispenser and a sink for washing hands.

Watch this Texas Children’ video about how we practice the World Health Organization’s five rules of hand hygiene.

How to wash your hands and keep hands clean

Wash your hands in the correct order to ensure proper hand hygiene. Use these five easy hand hygiene steps to effectively wash and clean your hands properly to prevent the spread of germs.

Watch this Texas Children’ video about how we wash our hands.

The correct order of steps for handwashing:

1. Wet your hands with clean, running water (warm or cold), turn off the tap, and apply soap.
2. Lather your hands by rubbing them together with the soap. Lather the backs of your hands, between your fingers, and under your nails.
3. Scrub your hands for at least 20 seconds. Need a timer? Hum the “Happy Birthday” song from beginning to end twice.
4. Rinse your hands well under clean, running water.
5. Dry your hands using a clean towel or an air dryer.

Teach your toddlers and kids how to wash their hands and implement these steps to ensure proper hygiene! Use these other handwashing tips to teach kids how to wash their hands. Washing your hands for at least 20 seconds while lathering with soap can help you and children stay healthy and avoid getting sick or catching a cold. It’s always best to wash your hands with soap and water for a thorough clean!

Use hand sanitizer when you can't wash hands with soap and water.

Hand washing with soap and water is the best way to get rid of germs in most situations. If soap and water are not readily available, you can use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer that contains at least 60% alcohol. You can tell if the sanitizer contains at least 60% alcohol by looking at the product label.

We keep hand sanitizer all around the hospital so patients can easily keep their hands clean. Look for hand sanitizer around the lobby, in patients’ rooms and throughout the hospital. Washing your hands in a sink is always the best option and knowing how to use the correct steps to wash your hands.

How long should you wash your hands?

The CDC recommends washing your hands for at least twenty seconds. Wet your hands and lather with soap and count to at least twenty to wash your hands effectively and remove germs. Rinse your hands thoroughly and be sure to dry them too.

Hand hygiene recommendations for children and patients

If you are a parent or caregiver, do your part to ensure hand hygiene protects your child. Make sure children wash their hands regularly and teach them proper hand hygiene. Start young to build positive hand hygiene habits and teach children the importance of hand washing.

Don’t hesitate to ask doctors, nurses or other health care workers to wash their hands before they contact your child. The World Health Organization now recommends  five distinct moments during patient care when hands should be washed:

1. Before touching a patient
2. Before clean/aseptic procedure
3. After body fluid exposure risk
4. After touching a patient
5. After touching patient surrounding

You are your child’s best advocate. We encourage you to speak up and be proactive about hand hygiene, especially at a doctor’s office or hospital.

Hand hygiene compliance and hand washing

At Texas Children's, our focus on rigorous hand hygiene compliance underscores our commitment to patient safety and quality care. The single most important and effective safety measure at Texas Children's is to make sure our hands are clean before and after any and every patient encounter. Through regular handwashing and adherence to hygiene protocols, we work to minimize risks and improve outcomes for every child under our care.

By ensuring that every team member – from doctors to support staff – follows rigorous hand hygiene practices, we help reduce the risk of hospital-acquired infections, promote a safer environment and improve health outcomes for families.

We hope patients and their families wash their hands regularly while they are in our care as well as once they return home.