Durban University of Technology (DUT) Department of Nursing’s Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) Short Course students visited Edu Bears Play Centre and Preschool on Wednesday, 23 August 2023 to teach children about the importance of hand washing.
The Infection Prevention and Control Short Course is under the supervision of Dr Nellie Naranjee. The short course is run on a Project Based Learning Approach. One of the projects identified is the lack of hand washing as a contributor to the resurgence of childhood diseases. Hence, the group chose a preschool to teach children the importance of hand washing.
The hand washing campaign was headlined by the IPC students. Ms Nonhlanhla Mwelase greeted the learners and teachers and introduced all the students from the IPC short course.
Mrs Nombuso Khanyile did the introduction for the topic of day, hand hygiene. The presentation was more of an engagement with the learners because Khanyile allowed the learners to speak with her if they wanted to share. Khanyile said that it is important for the learners to keep their hands clean because they also use their hands to touch themselves and to prevent them from getting sick, as their hands carry germs, if not washed. One of the learners raised that it is important to wash their hands before they eat.
The learners surprised the IPC students with the hand washing song that they sing in class with their teacher. The song emphasised the impact of one washing their hands and keeping them clean.
Ms Thandazile Ngubane discussed with the learners the importance of hand hygiene. She taught the learners the steps of hand washing by demonstrating the handwashing process for the learners. Ngubane played the Baby Shark hand washing song for the learners. She then asked the IPC students together with the learners to sing along and do the handwashing demonstration.
The IPC students did a hand washing ceremony where each student was given a group of learners. Each learner was applied with hand washing soap to wash their hands. The learners were happy to wash their hands and participated willingly.
After the hand washing ceremony, Ms Solochnee Govender and Ms Samentha Reddy used ultraviolet light to examine the learners’ hands after they were washed. The ultraviolet light was used to detect if the hands were washed properly. To see if the hands were washed properly, they firstly had to apply a hand lotion to the learners’ hands before placing their hands under the ultraviolet light. This caused great delight and dialogue amongst the learners.
Ms Suriakumarie Pillay and Ms Samentha Reddy did the question and answer session with learners and handed learners with gift bags.
“Well done to the DUT team on the presentation of the hand washing . I think it is an excellent programme that physically interacts with the staff and be hands on with the experiment which you find that the learners learn a lot through touch and the speciality in being in a healthy environment,” commented the Edu Bears Play Centre and Preschool principal, Mrs Zenitha Deonath.
The learners showed excitement about learning about hand hygiene and they enthusiastically participated in everything that was being taught to them about hand washing.
Pictured: IPC students with Dr Naranjee at Edu Bears Play Centre and Preschool.
Sibahle Ngcobo
