HAND SANITIZERS AND SOAPS

Hand Sanitizers and Soaps

Hand Sanitizers and Soaps

Introduction

One in 20 hospital patients get infections. In California, roughly 200,000 people get hospital infections annually, and 12,000 of them die, according to state Department of Public Health statistics. That makes such infections one of the state's leading causes of death, ahead of automobile accidents and Alzheimer's disease.

Yet these deaths have remained mostly in the shadows. They often are classified as "deaths from complications," an oblique term used in obituaries and often unquestioned by relatives and friends. Even the best doctors can be baffled whether an infection was acquired before or after a patient was admitted, and if it was the principal cause of death or no factor at all.

Many health care providers historically have viewed hospital infections - going by obscure names or acronyms such as C.diff, CLABSI, VRE and the more familiar MRSA - as a sometimes inevitable consequence of being hospitalized (Kramer, Rudolph, Kampf, Pittet, 2002).

Discussion

The problem that became apparent when the realization that hand hygiene is important for everyone. It is the need for a quick and easy way to kill germs without having to resort to disposable gloves. Soap, are while effective in getting rid of germs, it requires water, and a paper, or towel to dry off hands once they are cleaned. A towel is left by a sink, and it is used by multiple people for washing their hands, defeats the purpose of the soap, because people pick up germs when they dry their hands.

Triclosan or Chloroxylenol is the main ingredients in antibacterial soap. These ingredients do not kill germs on contact as the alcohol based product does, however, they soap generally has more moisturizers in the solution. While sanitizer contains moisturizing emollients, there can still be dryness when it is used on a regular basis. Another issue is that in order to stay germ free after washing with soap, an individual must have a clean towel. Many people simply “move” germs when they are sharing a dirty towel after hand washing.

Hand sanitizer products have really exploded over the past few years. It seems that everyone is carrying a personal bottle in their purse or in a coat jacket. Many offices have a dispenser sitting on a desk and conference rooms and cafeterias have wall mounted dispensers.

Comparison

hand sanitizers play an inevitable part in our every day lives? To takeover the world of harmful micro-organisms ...