Fundamentals of Nursing Q 578
The clinical instructor asks her students the rationale for handwashing. The students are correct if they answered that handwashing is expected to remove:
A. Transient flora from the skin
B. Resident flora from the skin
C. All microorganisms from the skin
D. Media for bacterial growth
Correct Answer: A. Transient flora from the skin
There are two types of normal flora: transient and resident. Transient flora are normal flora that a person picks up by coming in contact with objects or another person (e.g., when you touch a soiled dressing). You can remove these with hand washing. Hand washing can prevent about 30% of diarrhea-related illnesses and about 20% of respiratory infections (e.g., colds). Antibiotics often are prescribed unnecessarily for these health issues
Option B: Resident flora live deep in skin layers where they live and multiply harmlessly. They are permanent inhabitants of the skin and cannot usually be removed with routine hand washing.
Option C: Removing all microorganisms from the skin (sterilization) is not possible without damaging the skin tissues. To live and thrive in humans, microbes must be able to use the body’s precise balance of food, moisture, nutrients, electrolytes, pH, temperature, and light.
Option D: Food, water, and soil that provide these conditions may serve as nonliving reservoirs. Hand washing does little to make the skin uninhabitable for microorganisms, except perhaps briefly when an antiseptic agent is used for cleansing. Handwashing with soap could protect about 1 out of every 3 young children who get sick with diarrhea and almost 1 out of 5 young children with respiratory infections like pneumonia.