What does interlacing your fingers while washing your hands help to do?

Interlacing your fingers while washing your hands is effective for cleaning between the fingers, which are common areas where germs and dirt can accumulate. By interlacing the fingers, you create a more thorough cleaning action that helps to scrub the surfaces between the digits, ensuring that soap and water can reach all surfaces and effectively remove potential contaminants. This technique enhances the overall efficacy of handwashing, which is crucial for preventing the spread of infections, especially in healthcare settings and during outbreaks of contagious diseases.

The other options, while related to hand hygiene, do not capture the specific action and benefit of interlacing fingers in the context of washing hands. For instance, ensuring the fingernails are clean primarily involves scrubbing the nail bed separately, while creating friction is a general outcome of handwashing but not the specific purpose of interlacing fingers. Drying hands effectively is an important step in the handwashing process, but it occurs after the washing phase and does not relate to the technique of interlacing fingers during the actual washing.