Why Hand Hygiene and Device Disinfection Go Hand-In-Hand
Hand hygiene is one of the most straightforward daily tasks, an often-neglected act that doesn’t get enough of our attention. The self-explanatory nature of handwashing may be at fault. It seems so simple, yet many of us are still doing it wrong (or not enough).
However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, hand hygiene and cleanliness is top of mind for just about everyone, as it should be.
As the pandemic wore on, health professionals reiterated that washing hands and hand sanitizing is one of the best ways to prevent the spread of viruses and infectious bacteria. Our hands touch hundreds of surfaces and items each day—doorknobs, cellphones, gas pumps, remotes, keys, wallets, computers, toilets, money, and so many other items that are covered in thousands of germs.
If handwashing still doesn’t have your attention, check out these shocking facts about germs and your hands:
Your hands spread nearly 80 percent of illness-causing germs.
Germs can survive for up to three hours on your hands.
We touch our phones 2,617 times per day.
There are between 2 to 10 million bacteria on your fingertips and elbows.
We use handheld devices for nearly 11 hours per day.
Your hands transfer germs to the food and drinks you consume.
Mobile phones have over 25,000 bacteria per square inch.
One germ can multiply into more than 8 million germs in one day.
Your remote control is a top carrier of bacteria.
What’s the Most Effective Way to Clean Your Hands?
The answer is soap and water. The CDC has this down pat.
Get your hands wet, turn off the water and apply soap.
Rub your hands together to lather up the soap. Clean every surface from between your fingers and under your nails to your palms and back of your hands.
Scrub for at least 20 seconds. If you need a way to time it, sing or hum “The ABCs.”
Rinse well underwater.
Dry your hands with a clean towel and use the towel to turn off the faucet.
If you don’t have access to soap and water, use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer.
Hand Hygiene is Half the Battle (Your Mobile Device has More Bacteria Than a Toilet Seat)
After washing your hands, the next item you touch is often your phone, which has more bacteria per square inch than the typical toilet seat.
Disinfecting your cell phones and other devices and other frequently touched items is crucial to avoid spreading bacteria and viruses from your devices to your hands and vice versa. Until now, there was no quick and easy way to clean your handheld devices without cross contaminating your hands or the device itself. iCleanse UV-C disinfecting units solve this problem and give you peace of mind that your hands stay clean and free from germs by effectively disinfecting smartphones and tablets.
The Swift family of products can effectively disinfect infectious pathogens in as little as 15 seconds. iCleanse’s newest product, the Swift UV, takes this a step further by allowing hand sanitizer to be attached to the side of the unit via an optional metal plate.
The Swift UV introduces a new paradigm going beyond hand washing to seamlessly achieve hand hygiene with by including effective disinfection of smartphones and hand washing in once step. True hand hygiene ensures that hospitals and businesses keep staff, patients, visitors, and customers safe.
Why use iCleanse to Disinfect Your Devices
Convenient and discrete disinfection where it’s needed most; integrated at the handwashing station Nursing stations, patient rooms, offices, and meeting rooms, entrances, and cafeterias; everywhere one cleans their hands.
EZ Setup, no training or setup necessary—iCleanse products are ready to disinfect right out of the box.
Fast and convenient: We understand that in medical settings, time is of the essence. iCleanse products can increase handwashing compliance without adding additional time to your staff’s day. In the 15-30 seconds it takes staff to wash or sanitize hands between patient visits, iCleanse products disinfect all of their equipment and mobile devices.
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