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In hand washing, rinsing is from clean to dirty; the arms are considered cleaner than the fingers and therefore rinsing is away from the cleaner part of the arm. In the surgical scrub the arm is considered more contaminated because the hands and nails are more thoroughly scrubbed; therefore, in a surgical scrub the hands are held above the elbows. In hand washing the fingers are held downward to rinse and are dried in the same manner. Keeping hands in sight is important in both cases, but no special position is needed after hand washing. Although a foot or knee pedal is a preferred method of soap and water delivery, using a faucet can be just as safe if a paper towel is used to turn off the water after the hands have been washed.

User VikramV
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Final answer:

In hand washing, rinse from clean to dirty. In a surgical scrub, hold hands above the elbows. Keep hands in sight in both cases.

Step-by-step explanation:

In hand washing, rinsing is done from clean to dirty. The arms are considered cleaner than the fingers, so rinsing is done away from the cleaner part of the arm. However, in a surgical scrub, the arms are considered more contaminated because the hands and nails are scrubbed more thoroughly. Therefore, in a surgical scrub, the hands are held above the elbows. In both hand washing and surgical scrubbing, it is important to keep the hands in sight.

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User Shinva
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