Do you shake your patients' hands when you enter the room?

[baseballer]

I used to assume that shaking hands when you greet patients is a common courtesy, but I'm beginning to wonder if it's such a good idea for infection control reasons as many of us are probably guilty of not consistently washing our hands between patients. Would not shaking hands be construed as impolite?

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Doctor4Life1769]

Really?
I shake their hands. I then wash my hand at the end of the visit. You should always wash or use the alcohol gels.

 

[deleted87716]

I usually shake hands with patients upon entering the room. I've washed my hands since the last patient, and I wash them again in front of the patient.

The problem isn't shaking hands. The problem is you not washing your hands.

 

[baseballer]

Ideally, I would wash my hands between every patient, but our clinic setup makes this logistically inconvenient as I have to go out of my way for sink access. It'd be much more conducive if we had sinks fitted in every exam room. I may go the hand sanitizer route by purchasing bottles of my own.