Personal hygiene is also important as it clears discomfort & odors that might discomfort others & make friends to isolate you. It is essential especially when eating, drinking, sneezing, coughing & sweating to avoid being infected. Good personal hygiene is also important during & after handling all body fluids such as urine, blood or 1.2 Describe the effects of poor personal hygiene on health & wellbeing
UNIT 23 support personal hygiene 1.1 Explain why personal hygiene is important Personal Hygiene is important as keeping a good level of hygiene helps to prevent the development and spread of illnesses, infections and bad odours. It also makes you feel good about yourself and makes you feel valued. 1.2 Describe the effects of poor personal hygiene on health and wellbeing If you don’t maintain your personal hygiene it can affect your mental health leading you too feel insecure about yourself making you lose confidence. Your emotional wellbeing would also be affected by you not feeling good about yourself. Your physical health would also deteriorate and your social life would also be affected due to your physical appearance and a bad odour radiating around you making it unpleasant for others to be around.
For this reason it is important that staff ensure equipment is in good working order, safe and clean. Staff can do this by checking equipment regularly, being observant and not putting anyone at risk of danger or harm. It is also important equipment is tested and confirmed to be safe. Equipment should be checked before each use and if appears to be dangerous should be taken out of use and reported and recorded according to your local policy. Example of dangerous equipment may be a sharp edge on the bath seat as this may cause skin tears.
A stomach bug introduced to a care home can quickly spread between residents and staff. This can cause more serious illness and can complicate other medical conditions. Good personal hygiene can greatly reduce the risk of spreading infection. Some basic principles are:- Wash your self regularly and wash your hair, do not wear personal jewelry, especially when undertaking personal care, keep you clothes and shoes clean, wash your hands regularly, wash your hands after blowing your nose, coughing or sneezing or smoking. Using PPE like gloves and aprons also helps reduce the spread of infection.
Part Two Residents are spoken to on a one to one basis by their keyworkers. It is explained that if they have poor hygiene and make themselves ill then this could be passed onto other people Part Three Personal hygiene routines are discussed and reviewed between the resident, their keyworker and the manager. The resident is supported to decide whether they need to wash more frequently (for example if they are incontinent they may smell and need to wash more often) or whether their current plan is sufficient. Outcome Three Part One Factors that contribute to good personal hygiene are: * Washing * Showering * Washing hair * Cleaning clothes * Washing hands after using the toilet Part Two Residents culture and faith/beliefs are supported by ensuring that if said culture, faith or belief includes ceremonial hand-washing or maybe involves wearing certain clothes for a period of time then all these things are included in their life plans and are risk assessed to ensure the health of the residents are put first but that they are respected at all times. Part Three Maintaining a resident’s dignity if they require help with personal hygiene can be difficult and
Can be spread by touch, coughs and colds, it is good practise to cover your mouth and nose when coughing or sneezing and washing your hands after, disposing of any tissues in bins. It could also be prevented if residents do not share cutlery, cups or anything that may transfer infection to one another. Infection Control in your work place should be a part of everyday practice, and if followed to the correct procedure, can help to contain illnesses being spread. Diarrhoea, vomiting, coughs and colds are hard to contain in a nursing home because those residents who are mobile don't always understand that its in he interest of the home and the other residents that they are asked to stay in their rooms. Infections can also be transferred through visitors coming in to see their relatives.
Hand washing with soap & warm water should remove these transient organisms before they are transferred to surfaces, another patient or to a susceptible area on the same patient. In addition to washing with soap and water an alcohol rub will increase the removal of transient bacteria and should be used prior to clean or aseptic procedures, e.g. dressing changes, giving injections. Using an alcohol rub is a useful alternative when the hands are not visibly dirty, or when adequate hand washing facilities are not available. It is important that hand washing is carried out correctly to prevent the spread of infection.
One way to increase hand washing is to “help people to feel that hand washing is an important aspect of their self image” (Aunger, Curtis, Granger, Judah, Michie, & Schmidt, 2009, p. S406). Sometimes the concern for social judgments on a person’s hygiene behaviors will influence someone to follow the standards of acceptable behavior (Aunger et al., & Schmidt, 2009). The lack of hand washing education and supplies has an impact on whether someone will actually wash their hands or not. “Sometimes if there are no paper towels around or anything to dry my hands off with, I sometimes do not want to wash my hands because I cannot dry them” (D. Steele, personal communication, February 1, 2010). Growing up it is important that children are educated on the importance of washing so as
Maintaining good personal hygiene includes bathing, washing hands, brushing teeth and wearing clean clothes. It also includes making safe and healthy decisions when interacting with others implementing good personal hygiene practices has both health and social benefits. b. 1.2 Describe the effects of poor hygiene on health and well-being When service users do not maintain personal hygiene certain consequences may develop ranging from social problems to potentially serious diseases. This could led to low self-esteem, neglect, or abuse or be the reason for poor personal hygiene to begin with.
Infection- This is an invasion by and multiplication of pathogenic, micro-organisms in a bodily part or tissue which could cause harm. Infections can be spread with ease, poor practice is the main reason for spread of infection. Examples of poor practices are not washing your hands regularly, hand washing should be done thoroughly with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, followed by hand-drying with a paper towel. Another example of poor practice is not covering your mouth when you cough or sneeze. You should always get vaccinated and always use safe methods of cooking and preparing food.