Sunday, January 28, 2007
Do you wash your hands?
For my research methodologies class I had to do an observational exercise and monitor how people washed their hands. It was bit of a covert operation where I would pretend to use the toilet and then go and wash my hands, while secretly memorizing every detail of the movements of the person next to me at the sink. My group and I chose to monitor the largest bathroon at our university and you would be surprised at how many people who kind of just rinse their hands. It is kind of gross in fact. It has made me hypersensitive about washing my hands and touching germy washrooms.
Which is kind of ironic considering that the day after I did my observations, I got the flu. I have been sick for the last 4 days, with the first 3 days being absolutely whiny and miserable. I was a trooper and went to school and work anyways, only to go home after work and hide under my covers shivering and coughing. I am happy to report the fever is gone and all that remains is a stuffed up and runny nose and a hacking cough. At this point I am glad that I no longer have a fever.
Okay, so back to the hand washing. Did you know that there are guidelines to proper hand washing techniques?
1. you must take off jewellery
2. wet hands
3. lather soap, don't use bar soap or antibacterial soap,
4. scrub between the fingers, the palms, back of hands, and the wrists
5. use lots of friction while scrubbing for two singings of Happy Birthday (note don't sing it outloud, they will really think you are weird)
6. Rinse thoroughly, one hand at a time
7. take paper towel and use that to shut off the tap.
The weird stuff you learn in gradschool huh?
For my research methodologies class I had to do an observational exercise and monitor how people washed their hands. It was bit of a covert operation where I would pretend to use the toilet and then go and wash my hands, while secretly memorizing every detail of the movements of the person next to me at the sink. My group and I chose to monitor the largest bathroon at our university and you would be surprised at how many people who kind of just rinse their hands. It is kind of gross in fact. It has made me hypersensitive about washing my hands and touching germy washrooms.
Which is kind of ironic considering that the day after I did my observations, I got the flu. I have been sick for the last 4 days, with the first 3 days being absolutely whiny and miserable. I was a trooper and went to school and work anyways, only to go home after work and hide under my covers shivering and coughing. I am happy to report the fever is gone and all that remains is a stuffed up and runny nose and a hacking cough. At this point I am glad that I no longer have a fever.
Okay, so back to the hand washing. Did you know that there are guidelines to proper hand washing techniques?
1. you must take off jewellery
2. wet hands
3. lather soap, don't use bar soap or antibacterial soap,
4. scrub between the fingers, the palms, back of hands, and the wrists
5. use lots of friction while scrubbing for two singings of Happy Birthday (note don't sing it outloud, they will really think you are weird)
6. Rinse thoroughly, one hand at a time
7. take paper towel and use that to shut off the tap.
The weird stuff you learn in gradschool huh?
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