Let’s face it – a lot of the habit of hand washing is social. When someone sees us leaving the bathroom, we’re more likely to stop and wash our hands. Similarly, when someone else is watching, we’re much more likely to be careful about how much water we use. Everyone is aware that portable sinks both promote improved sanitation, by making hand washing accessibly and convenient, but they also encourage responsible water use. How often does someone turn the water on in the bathroom, get distracted, then forget and just leave the water running while they get a towel, apply lipstick or straighten their tie? The average person is much less likely to do that when the sink is out in the open where all can see. In fact, it’s not unusual for a passer-by to remind someone to turn off the water they aren’t using. A little social pressure serves as reminder that while we aren’t paying for water right when we use it, it is not free.
Maintain Good Hygene In The Health Care Field With Portable Sinks.
Good hygiene is a staple taught as we’re growing up, perhaps the number one lesson we can all remember is to wash our hands after using the bathroom and before eating. For the average American, this is enough to stave off most invaders of the immune system and keep you healthy. Not so if you’re working in the medical field, especially a long term health care facility, better known as a nursing home.
The day of a nurse’s aide is high-pressured and fast-paced, gone are the days of being able to take the time to interact one-on-one with each and every resident, as the number of qualified workers dissipates. With lights ringing above each door and the nursing staff barks orders in your direction; there is one corner that gets cut too many times. Hand washing.
Being pushed to the limit to get a predetermined amount of care done, by a certain time leaves the nurse’s aides scrambling to fulfill their obligations. Pressing to get out of a room and on to the next resident, hand washing is commonly overlooked. On the surface it may not seem like much, after all they are supposed to wear gloves, but this safety measure can frequently be forgone too; or the switching into new gloves ignored or forgotten.
So what to do? Perhaps installing portable sinks in the hallways of the establishment is the answer. As an aide finishes depositing dirty linens, completing care or even sneezing into their own hands, seeing a portable sink along their path, could entice them to slow down and wash before connecting with the next patient. The thirty-second pit stop, (long enough to sing the tune of Row, Row, Row Your Boat), could make an enormous impact on the health of the staff and residents in the facility. It has been proven hand washing and good hygiene greatly reduces the risk of MRSA (methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus) a virulent virus resistant to many antibiotics currently marketed.
Hand washing also curbs the amount of cold and flu viruses picked up, pink eye (conjunctivitis), strep-throat, skin rashes and infections, head lice and scabies and a plethora of bacterial qualms. Instead of depending on a stationary sink tucked into the room of a patient that may be bypassed, a portable sink in plain view my facilitate as a constant reminder to do the right thing. It may also make more staff feel self-conscious at how many actually see them using the portable sink during their shift, prompting them to wash more often, improving the safety and health of everyone.