Low Grades on "Clean Hands" Report Card

(WebMD)  America's school kids, their parents, and their teachers might need to brush up on their hand hygiene, according to the 2007 "Clean Hands Report Card."

The report card, issued byB the Soap and Detergent Association (SDA), comes before this year's cold and flu season starts -- so it's not too late to upgrade your hand-washing habits to help prevent the spread of cold and flu germs.B

Overall, the SDA gives students, parents, teachers, and school nurses/health professionals a "C" gradeB for hand hygiene. Here are the specific grades for each group:

• Students: D


• Dads: D+


• Moms: B-


• Teachers: B-


• School nurses/health professionals: B+

The grades are based on surveys completed over the summer by 508 teachers, 356 health professionals (mostly school nurses), 326 students, 311 dads, and 353 moms.

The surveys included questions about how long people spend washing their
hands and how often they wash their hands.

Clean Hands Survey

In the survey, most participants indicated that they always wash their hands after going to the bathroom.

However, less than a quarter of the students and half of the teachers said
they always wash their hands before eating lunch.

Only 27% of teachers, about 18% of students, almost 33% of school nurses/health professionals, and about 30% of parents said they always wash their hands after coughing or sneezing.

Many people may not spend long enough lathering up. The CDC recommends washing hands with soap and water for 20 seconds.

But according to the survey, nearly 46% of teachers, 44% of school nurses/health professionals, 51% of students, and 42% of parents said they typically wash their hands for 15 seconds or less.

The parents' survey, completed by telephone, has a 3.8% margin of error. The SDA doesn't list a margin of error for the students, teachers, and school nurses/health professionals' surveys, which were completed at conferences.

By Miranda Hitti
Reviewed by Louise Chang
B)2005-2006 WebMD, Inc. All rights reserved

[jn122736]

You notice that this survey was done by the people that sell soap.

Posted by pollroller1 at 07:36 AM : Sep 08, 2007
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Right on.

I read another report some time ago that the increasing use of antibacterial soap could create new strains of bacteria with stronger, more dangerous, immunities.

I don%u2019t recall that report being funded by soap manufacturers.

[extremophil]

Personally, I always wash my hands before clicking onto CBS News.

[arnoldbowers]

Asking a student if he washed his hands prior to eating his school lunch is stupid. First they have about 30 minutes to do everthing and standing in the restroom 15 minutes in line to was their hands is not going to happen. The teachers do not have a good excuse for not washing their hands.
The reason the kids don''t wash their hands is the time limit and it is not their parents filthy habits the person who think so probably does not have parents and was hatched from an egg. the best of good byes from austin, tx and frank bowers

[Snerdguy]

Maybe the kids don''t know about washing their hands because of their parent''s filthy habits. All too many times I have seen people leaving a public restroom without washing their hands. Those people pick up and handle the items in the department stores, even food items in the grocery. It''s no wonder that flu viruses spread like wildfire.

The issue of hand washing doesn''t begin to get enough attention from our leaders in the government. They get people all stirred up about avian flu being the next great plague. But, how often do they remind the public that just keeping your hands washed is the best way to keep viruses from spreading?

[pollroller1]

You notice that this survey was done by the people that sell soap.

[oleander8]

What about after you handle money? after pushing a grocery cart? answering a phone? using someone elses keyboard at work? opening a door in a public place? shaking hands with someone? This list could go on forever -- be realistic. Heck, I probably just provided some good ideas for next years clean hands report card "survey".