The annual Christmas BMJ is always good for a laugh. This year, one of the featured articles introduces the idea of using the tune of Frère Jacques to help memorise the WHO’s six-step hand hygiene technique.

And here’s the song in action:

This isn’t a research article by any means – rather, some festive food for thought. The authors co-developed the song with school children, and then demonstrated impact by through improved removal of fluorescent markers from the hands of volunteers.

This is great – any efforts to co-design educational materials with those who will be using them should be encouraged. But I wonder whether this approach might work even better with the modified three-step method (which seems to be as effective as the six-step method).

The approach is aimed at school children, but could work for a healthcare workforce too. Although perhaps we should seek a more ‘grown up’ song? Any ideas that might work?