Tag Archive for: handshaking

The Bottom Line on Handshakes in Healthcare

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This week I’ve talked about physicians opinions on human contact in the healthcare setting as well as a couple of studies that establish that pathogens can be transferred from normal human contact such as handshakes in hospitals and other medical locations.

Normal human contact. That sounds much different from talking about handshakes or fist bumps, doesn’t it? Puts a different feel to it. That’s the Number One problem I see with limiting actions such as handshakes in the healthcare setting: we lose the feeling expressed through common human contact. Some people who don’t like . . .

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More Research on Hospital Handshakes

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Two studies on handshakes have made the news recently (1,2). Both indicate that avoiding handshakes and perhaps moving to something such as a fist bump might be a good idea in the healthcare setting. Let’s take a closer look.

In the first study, researchers had two healthcare workers start at the ground floor of a hospital and then proceed to the surgical suite on the 5th floor. They pushed the buttons on elevators, used door handles, etc. Then they shook hands with 20 other healthcare workers working on the surgical floor. After contact, the 20 unsuspecting workers were . . .

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Don’t Touch That!

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What if this sign greeted you the next time you walked into your doctor’s or dentist’s office:

Handshake-Free Zone: To protect your health and the health of those around you, please refrain from shaking hands while on these premises.

In my head, I’m thinking no way that will ever happen—then my dentist fist-bumped me the other day. I immediately knew what he had read, so this topic went to the top of my list of things to write about. I’ve been tracking some . . .

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