A patient tells the nurse that she washes her hands many times throughout the day because she wants to kill all the germs before she provides care to her small children. What is the nurse's best response to this patient?

Question

1. "That's a good thing, because hand washing kills all bacteria."
2. "Make sure you use an antibiotic ointment on areas of skin breakdown."
3. "Bacteria are always present on the skin, and too much hand washing could lead to skin breakdown."
4. "When you have young children, there's no such thing as washing your hands too much."

Answer 1

3
Rationale 1: Skin is capable of inhibiting bacterial growth; however, bacteria are always present on the skin surface in various quantities.
Rationale 2: This response does not directly address the patient's continual hand washing.
Rationale 3: Hand washing may reduce the amount of bacteria on the skin, but the nurse should counsel the patient that too much hand washing can lead to skin breakdown.
Rationale 4: The intent of this message may be to encourage sufficient hand washing, but it could be interpreted as encouraging the patient to wash her hands even more frequently.