App Profile: Hand Washing Trainer

The Hand Washing Trainer is an innovative interactive app that was created to help children learn the art and science of proper handwashing. It uses touchscreen game mechanics to teach players the World Health Organization’s (W.H.O.) handwashing steps for hand hygiene. Its ultimate goal: healthier habits, decreased infections and keeping everyone healthier.
Choose from 27 different songs, learn the W.H.O. handwashing steps, and get scrubbing! The app incorporates high fidelity simulation of handwashing technique with accurate depictions of hand anatomy which have been traditionally very hard to portray. Exercising this skill on an accurate 3D model in the game allows for players’ behavior to translate into real-life practice.

If you are reading this description, you probably already care about better hand hygiene. The Hand Washing Trainer does three things exceedingly well: (1) it provides realistic training in the W.H.O. handwashing steps; (2) it provides critical visual feedback on what areas of the hands were missed by virtual ultraviolet inspection; (3) it results in real-world improvement of handwashing at the sink.

Developed with funding from the National Institutes of Health, the Hand Washing Trainer is the result of over 3 years of iterative design, with over 400 builds and over 5,000 games played. Over 2,000 students and their teachers have played the game.

Learn proper handwashing skills to stay healthy: because you won't wash what you don't see.

By playing the Hand Washing Trainer, players learn how to properly wash their hands like professionals do. This knowledge translates into better handwashing skills at the sink. Ultimate goal: healthier habits, decreased infections and keeping everyone healthier.

Handwashing is cheap and effective protection against a host of infectious diseases, including RSV, common cold, influenza, COVID-19, polio, norovirus and other gastrointestinal and respiratory diseases, but only if done effectively, at the appropriate time, and consistently. This skill is especially important for school-age children, and those who tend to come into contact with more people, and/or are more prone to acquiring infections. Proper hand washing decreases the rate of infection both for individuals as well as the community.