From Contention to Common Practice: The History of Hand-washing
Poor ol Dr. Semmelweis. He was the first to fight for hand-washing- as a lifesaving practice- but was so ridiculed by his peers at the time that he suffered a mental breakdown, and in a painfully ironic twist, contracted a deadly infection in a mental institution.
While working at a hospital in Vienna in the 1840s, Semmelweis got to the bottom of a deadly- but standard at the time- problem when he discovered the reason that so many more women were dying from birthing in the hospital versus giving birth in the midwife-run maternity center.
After a process of elimination and examination, he observed that the doctors and medical students often visited the maternity ward directly after performing an autopsy. No hand-washing. In fact, a perpetually soiled apron or frock was a symbol of experience and clout for a doctor. Semmelweis hypothesized that the doctors were passing on ‘cadaverous particles’ from autopsies via their hands to the birthing mothers, and the midwives did not have such particles. Therefore, hands needed to be cleansed after dealing with death and illness.
A process of washing hands with water and chlorine was instituted and the rates of death were dramatically improved. However, fellow doctors did not take well to being implicated in the deaths, and the majority of the medical community rejected his idea.
A few years later in Italy, a different medical professional, Florence Nightingale, championed hand washing at her hospital and saved lives. Then Joseph Lister, a Scottish surgeon, pioneered sanitizing hands and instruments. The product we know as Listerine was named after this doctor. These professionals implemented hygienic practices despite the lack of wide acceptance, and even ridicule. Hand washing took decades to become more accepted around the world.
“It wasn’t until the 1980s that hand hygiene was officially incorporated into American health care with the first national hand hygiene guidelines.” (Strochlic, 2020)
Dr. Semmelweis never knew the grand impact his work would have on the world. Next time you wash your hands, and especially if you see your doctor or nurse wash their hands, send a mental thank you to Dr. Semmelweis and his spirit of curiosity that lead to this life-saving practice that is now our daily habit.
What ideas do we scoff at now, that may be fully accepted as truth in 150 years?
TLDR: The act of washing hands with soap and water for health and hygiene is relatively new for humans. Hand-washing prevents illness and disease, and is estimated to save millions of lives every year. Alcohol-based sanitizers can work in many scenarios, but soap and water is the gold-standard.
Bonus!
When to use soap and water, and when to use hand sanitizer:
Source: CDC
Sources and helpful info:
Sepsis Alliance. (2018, April 30). Washing your hands: This simple step can save lives.
Strochlic, N. (2020, March 6). ‘Wash your hands’ was once controversial medical advice. National Geographic. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/handwashing-once-controversial-medical-advice
World Health Organization (2009). WHO guidelines on hand hygiene in health care: First global patient safety challenge clean care is safer care. WHO Press. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK144018/
https://globalhandwashing.org/about-handwashing/history-of-handwashing/
