Nursing Essay Sample
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strongly recommending or rather enforcing the need to perform hand washing may be
traced from Dr. Ignaz Semmelweis who advocated the performance of hand washing
with a chlorinated solution among doctors before assisting women in labour (Case
2011). White (2005, p.527) defines hand washing as the rubbing together of all surfaces
and crevices of the hands using a soap or chemical and water. It is a part of all types of
isolation precautions and is the most basic and effective infection-control measure to
prevent and control the transmission of infectious agents. Hand hygiene which includes
hand washing and gloving, is the single most crucial means of preventing transmission
of antibiotic-resistant organisms such as the methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus
or MRSA and vancomycin-resistant Enterococci or VRE (LeTexier 2011). The National
Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (2003, p.28) or NICE in its guideline for
infection control dictate that hand washing and gloving are two fundamental modes of
preventing healthcare-associated infection. The World Health Organization (2006)
highly recommends that health care workers wear gloves to prevent microorganisms
present on the hands to be transmitted to patients and to reduce the risk of workers
acquiring infection from patients. The effectiveness of donning gloves in preventing
contamination of infectious agents has been confirmed in many clinical trials (WHO
2006). To reiterate, both hand washing and gloving are two of the most indispensable
methods of aseptic technique; however, amidst the overwhelming evidence on the
benefits of both procedures, there are still erring professionals. Nurses, doctors and
other health care professionals still do err in the performance of such procedures. In my
case, I have done it many times before but sometimes, I still forget to do it or
consciously neglect to do it. Perhaps, the problem lies not within the knowledge of the