The awkward feeling campaign: confronting poor hand hygiene to improve handwashing

This article describes how a group of third year child branch student nurses at the University of Wolverhampton examined the way they perceived handwashing. During a three day workshop aimed at focusing on healthcare improvement, the students moved from regarding handwashing as a simple act of hygiene, to seeing it as a social behaviour, which is part of a larger organisational system. Through analysing cultural messages, themes and the idea of organisational power, the students developed a new way of thinking about what health professionals do with their hands. All the anecdotes featured in this article are reflections from the students (whose names have been changed to protect their anonymity). During the Handwashing Experiment, the students challenged traditional health promotion messages--which focus on how the individual can make a difference--and explored how organisations allow cross infection to persist. The result was a collection of reflective accounts and socially orientated, hard hitting posters.