I believe that hand washing is not taught in nursing school any longer. I am amazed at how many times I have seen nurses and nursing students leave tghe bathroom without washing hands. If they do that, i  know they are not washing hands between patients. 

Not only do I wash my hands every chance I get, but I also use antibacterial gel.  I know that isn't good but I use it when I can get up right away to wash. 

I graduated in 2005 and hand washing was the first lab taught in our first nursing class.  We spent a week on just washing our hands the right way.  We had to check off on it and had a test on it.  The instructors would line every one up and watch us wash our hands.  I wash my hands every chance I get as well.  I also use the antibacterial gel.  In my hospital they have the hand gel in every patient room, med room, nurses desk and about every 20 feet down every hall. 

My hands are my proff...they are so ruff...I don't think I would even make a hit with an alligator..lol....

Emma~

My experience with different facilities is 15 sec...say your abc's slowly ...lol...I wash my hands after elevator buttons too...yuck!! And use a paper towel to open the bathroom door with after washing my hands...I put a rubber glove over my stethascope bell..for each patient...germafobic here!! ..lol...

i am a nursing student and a chronic hand washer, no they really dont teach hand washing like they should.  If they did there would  not be as much of the germs taken home

Hand washing is one of the first things we are taught where I went to school.  Honestly, I thought it was ridiculous that I needed to be taught how to wash my hands.  I was surprised though at how many people did not use the proper technique.   I constantly wash my hands, especially doing homecare nursing.  And trust me there are times when I not only want to wash my hands but I'd like to take another bath after I leave some of these homes. 

I graduated from nursing school in 1969.  I trained at a large city hospital.  We did not have disposable gloves in the hospital and at that time our sterile gloves were reusable.  They had to be washed, checked for holes and resterilized.  They were only found in the operating room and procedure rooms.  Nurses were very attuned to handwashing then - we had to be!  Today with all the disposable gloves and gels, I rarely see nurses actually washing their hands.  And other staff, such as lab personnel and aides use gloves (unfortunately not always), but never seem to wash before or after they put on or take off the gloves!

I am going back to the hadwashing classes and check offs with my students.

My Son, and his wife and kids came to visit me over the holidays. He is a medic in the USAF. When they went home about 4 days later my son called and said that my daughter in law had had a boil on her neck and when culterd in the ER on the base after her I&D , it was found to have had MRSA. Of course my son called me and asked if I had been in recent contact or if I had been washing my hands at work. I asnwered of course! But to be on the safe side I had myself, my husband and my 16 yr old that was still at home tested with the nasal swabs. We came back clean. So I asked my son if HE was washing his hands at work. He answered maybe not as often as he should. LOL I said well after 20 yrs of nursing I knew better and now so does he. He works in a 140 bed ER. They get so busy and he remembers that this one night was crazy. He came into contact with it several times during an evening. He probably brought it to my house. So I washed everything again towels and all linens and even pillows. Hopefully he would have learned his lesson. I worry more about my grandbabies. 3 and 2 yr olds. WASH YOUR HANDS!!!

I am ALWAYS washing my hands!!! It is done without  even thinkiing about it.

We are lucky in my ED we are provided scrubs so we dont bring those home!

But I never thought about my shoes!!!!  Argh, going shopping tomorrow for a new pair!!!!

LIke most of you, I'm also obsessive-compulsive when it comes to handwashing... If I can't wash my hands in some places outside the hospital, I always use my hand sanitizer. It's better than nothing...

Hand washing was taught in my nursing school. Its a good thing because not many people know how to properly wash.

The instructor told us when washing with warm water and soap to sing the "happy birthday" song. When you complete the song, you have spent enough time washing.

they still teach handwashing at my school... we have to get checked off and they use that orange glow stuff that u put on your hands wash off then look under the black light. that really shows u how well u wash. i wash all the time and use hand sanitizer. i refuse to hug my daughter before stripping and showering... it makes me feel so bad but i don't want her to get sick.

Wow, maybe tomorrow I will count how many times I wash. I know it's alot. I also use hand sanitizer constantly. There is always a bottle on my med cart. I always wear gloves if I know it's gonna get "yucky". The alcohol hand sanitizers DO NOT work for C-Diff. You have to wash your hands and arms etc. to get the spores off. That is why C-diff is so tough, not bacteria but spores. Those little buggers live through everything!