Colegio de San Juan de Letran

College of Business Administration and Accountancy

Food Technology Area

Effectiveness of Handwashing
(Experiment 6)

Submitted by:
ACUJEDA, Jerick James

BRUAN, Ma. Trixia Joyce

MAGBITANG, Francis John

MANALO, Aliyah Juliana

RANCES, Vincent

SACAYANAN, Katherine Dianne

SALVADOR, Kurt Danielle

Date Submitted:
December 9, 2022

Submitted to:
Ms. Sheena Marie Napata
Instructor
 Colegio de San Juan de Letran
College of Business Administration and Accountancy
Food Technology Area

I. ABSTRACT
Hand washing is a widely known technique to
disinfect skin. Although, the technique doesn’t provide a
hundred percent of eliminating microorganisms, yet it
reduces the majority of it by washing hands in a proper way.
Thus, an experiment was conducted to study the
effectiveness of this technique together with other
techniques such as rinsing hands through tap water, and
usage of sanitizer. Yet, the results revealed that hand
washing is the most effective sanitation among the three
techniques that had been done in the experiment. Hand
washing prevents cross-contamination, transmission of
infection, and catching diseases due to various activities and
interaction with people.

II. KEYWORDS: handwashing, alcohol, tap water, aseptic technique, hand culture

III. INTRODUCTION
The implementation of antimicrobial agents has been taken in preventing
infections including disinfecting, sterilization and effective use of antiseptics and
isolation of patients with infections diseases. Aseptic techniques protect against the
unintended introduction of microorganisms into the environment and the contamination
of lab equipment.

The molecules of small emulsified oil droplets in water washed away by the
stream of water. Alcohols can break down the proteins present in the structure of
germs, it loses their protection, dehydrates and it quickly dies. Soaps and Alcohols are
both disinfectants and antiseptics.
 Colegio de San Juan de Letran
College of Business Administration and Accountancy
Food Technology Area

This study aims to determine the effectiveness of proper hygiene and

handwashing that can help us prevent and control the spread of illnesses.

IV. METHODOLOGY
Materials
The materials were used for handwashing to observe how effective it is. Hand
soap and ethanol were used to clean and sanitize the hands. Sterile swab and sterile
saline were also used to inoculate the bacteria. Nutrient agar plate was used to culture
the swabbed bacteria.

Procedure
1. The first through fourth quadrants of the nutrient agar plate were labeled.
2. A negative control in Quadrant 1 was set, which was not touched at all.
3. The participants randomly touched surfaces within the room for five minutes to
prepare for inoculation in the remaining quadrants.
4. Quadrant 2 was touched with fingers as they were to serve as positive control.
5. Two participants’ hands were sanitized with ethanol and rubbed into Quadrant 3,
while the rest of the participants washed their hands with tap water and air-dried.
6. All participants washed their hands with soap and water, then air-dried before
touching Quadrant 4.
7. The plates were incubated at 35-37ºC for 24-48 hours.

V. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

In this experiment, nutrient agar was used to accommodate as many microbes as
possible. Each plate was divided into four quadrants: a negative control in the first
quadrant, a positive control in the second quadrant, tap water and ethanol as
independent variables for the third quadrant, and soap as an independent variable for
the fourth quadrant. Six participants were involved as sample sources, with two trials
each, resulting in a total of 12 trials performed.
 Colegio de San Juan de Letran
College of Business Administration and Accountancy
Food Technology Area

Hand cultures: Quadrant 1

This stage focuses on the neutral point. This stage will not be exposed to
differentiate it with exposure of microbes to the environment, and after doing the other
stages, it was incubated for 24 hours.

The results have shown that there was no growth of bacteria, as this stage is not
exposed by microbes in any way, but there are still agar plates that have a colonial
growth. One of the factors of growth is overexposure to the air, as three more stages
had to be done and opening the agar will be prone to grow microorganisms.

Hand cultures: Quadrant 2

Staph bacteria can spread easily through cuts, scrapes and skin-to-skin contact.
Staph infections may also spread in the lab room through shared doors, tables, chairs,
uniforms, or equipment.

Hand cultures: Quadrant 3

There are two types of tests in the third quadrant. First is using tap water to rinse
the hands, and the second is using alcohol. The results have shown that there were
microorganisms still present. It proves that simple rinsing of water cannot eliminate the
overall microorganism present in the hands. For the alcohol, there was growth of
microorganism due to the microorganism found in the air. The use of nutrient agar will
be a factor in living microorganisms, as the results of the third quadrant already proves
that tap water cannot remove bacteria in the hands and for the alcohol there are proper
ways on how to use alcohol to disinfect hands to remove bacteria.

Hand cultures: Quadrant 4

The last step of the experiment focuses on washing the hands with soap. As for
the results, there was growth even after washing with soap. The growth of bacteria is
due to the microorganism found in the air. Even using the proper way of hand washing,
the bacteria can be easily transferred to hands if the environment has microorganisms
 Colegio de San Juan de Letran
College of Business Administration and Accountancy
Food Technology Area

found in the air. Especially when the place is not sterile and clean, also when drying of
hands is not proper, there are bacteria that may be transferred to the hands.

Aseptic Techniques in Hospitals

Because many people come to hospitals carrying various pathogens, hospitals
are often sanitized using various methods. These include all the rooms, especially
operating rooms to protect the patients undergoing surgery from cross-contamination.

Aside from sanitization, aseptic techniques are employed to prevent pathogens

from contaminating the hospital staff and the patients as well. According to the
Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care (ACSQHC), aseptic
techniques in hospitals are performed to reduce the risk of healthcare-associated
infections (HAIs), especially those from the exposure to body fluids and tissues of
patients. Pathogens are prevented from being introduced into a patient’s susceptible
body site, such as a wound or any break in the skin.

As such, protocols largely revolve around the concept of ensuring that

susceptible sites are kept sanitized, as well as any object that would come in contact
with them, such as the hands of the healthcare professional, the tools to be inserted,
and the pieces of cloth and cotton to be used for sanitization.

Wearing of personal protective equipment (PPE) and proper handwashing are

also recommended, along with employing non-touch techniques wherein susceptible
body sites are only touched when absolutely necessary and avoided when otherwise
(“Aseptic technique, n.d.). An example of a non-touch technique would be holding the
edges of a bandage to avoid the susceptible site. Additionally, susceptible sites must
also be sanitized before exposure, performed by wiping the localized area with alcohol if
possible, as is the case with the administration of vaccines or other invasive
procedures.
 Colegio de San Juan de Letran
College of Business Administration and Accountancy
Food Technology Area

Personnel training and compliance monitoring are also recommended by

ACSQHC to ensure that the medical staff have adequate knowledge regarding aseptic
techniques and that they are complying with the standards set by the government.

Although standard precautions are expected to be employed in all hospitals,

there are still potential sources of contamination and infection in unexpected forms
(Preston, 2005). Thus, vigilance and diligence in employing proper aseptic techniques
are always recommended in addition to the proper protocols.

VI. CONCLUSION
In conclusion of the experiment, it has revealed the truth behind the proper hand
washing. Hand washing technique doesn’t 100% eliminate microorganisms , but rather,
it broadly reduces it, even thoroughly soaping the hands while singing the song “happy
Birthday'' twice. The technique is still effective compared to the use of antiseptic such as
sanitizer, and rinsing the hands by the use of tap water.

To further knowledge of the hand washing technique, it is recommended to do a

comparison between washing hands while singing happy birthday twice, and one
minute of hand washing to see the effectiveness of the techniques, or it has the same
results after the five-minute touching things. Furthermore, it is recommended to do
sanitation twice– doing hand washing then using antiseptic such as alcohol (70%), or
sanitizer (99%) afterwards– to see the results.
 Colegio de San Juan de Letran
College of Business Administration and Accountancy
Food Technology Area

REFERENCES

Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care (n.d.). NSQHS standards
implementation guide for action 3.11 aseptic technique. Retrieved from
https://www.safetyandquality.gov.au/sites/default/files/2022-01/nsqhs_standards
_implementation_guide_for_action_3.11_aseptic_technique_-
_december_2021.pdf.

Aseptic technique (n.d.). Retrieved from

https://wtcs.pressbooks.pub/nursingskills/chapter/4-3-asceptic-technique/.

Preston, R. M. (2005). Aseptic technique: Evidence-based approach for patient safety.

British Journal of Nursing, 14(10), 540-546. doi:10.12968/bjon.2005.14.10.18102.
 Colegio de San Juan de Letran
College of Business Administration and Accountancy
Food Technology Area

APPENDIX A
Documented Images

Figure A1. Bacterial growth result for handwashing, from two different participants