Surgical Asepsis

The standard precautions are implemented at all times to decrease the risk of transmitting infectious agents. Assuming that all patients could carry an infection, this minimises the potential spread of HAI’s. These standard precautions include routine hand hygiene, the use of personal protective equipment, safe handling and disposure of sharps and routine environmental cleaning.4,5 In this situation, where blood is present, this is considered a biohazard. Hand hygiene must be performed before touching the patient, before and after any procedures or exposure to bodily substances and after touching the patient or any of the patient’s surroundings. The use of Personal protective equipment should be used when attending to the patient. This includes protective eye wear, a surgical mask and an apron for protection from any splashes or sprays of blood generated by the patient. Gloves should also be worn for single use only when coming in contact with open skin and bodily fluids. To minimise the spread of blood, the bystander with visibly soiled hands should also be advised to thoroughly clean them with soap and

During this last visit, Dr. M made some mistakes which may have played a crucial role in Jacob acquiring an infection, or, in the least, contributed to negligence. After removing Jacob’s cast, Dr. M did not complete his examination of Jacob’s leg before he left the room to exam another patient, Sarah, in the room across the hall. Upon entering the room, he did not close the door. The most obvious mistake the doctor did was not washing his hands after his examination of Sarah, who has osteomyelitis, after which he returned to the first exam room to continue his examination of Jacob’s leg. Hand washing plays a major role in preventing cross-contamination when caring for patients. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC, 2014), washing hands is an extremely important way to prevent the spread of infection from patient to patient or patient to health care professional. It is essential that all health care providers practice hand hygiene even if gloves are worn. There

This means aseptic technique and sterile gloves should be used for insertion and care of a CVC. Aseptic technique is critically important to protect patients from CLABSIs; infections are caused by either intrinsic (e.g. patients own flora) or extrinsic (e.g. surrounding environment) pathogens. Asepsis therefore removes patients skin flora and ensures flora picked up from either other patients or the surrounding environment is not introduced into the patient (Mollee et al., 2011).

Poor hand hygiene - spread of germs from one patient to another or spread for hands to surfaces.

Asepsis can be defined as the complete absence of bacteria, fungi, viruses or other microorganisms that could cause disease. Aseptic techniques refer to a set of skills that are used to ensure any environment being examined or dressed remains free from micro-organisms by not directly touching the wound or any other surface that might come into contact with the wound (McFerran and Martin 2008).

8. Aseptic technique for invasive procedures: Aseptic technique aims to prevent pathogenic organisms, in sufficient quantity to cause infection, from being introduced to susceptible body sites by the hands of staff, surfaces or equipment. It protects patients during invasive clinical procedures by utilising infection prevention measures that minimise the presence of micro-organisms. Practicing aseptic technique, asepsis is ensured by performing a risk assessment before each procedure, identifying the key parts and key sites that are required to be kept sterile. This will ensure correct infection prevention measures are in place to perform aseptic technique safely and reducing the risk of a patient acquiring a healthcare associated infection. Infection prevention measures include: environmental controls, the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) , hand hygiene and non-touch technique. Generally, the more technically difficult (complex) procedures require more infection prevention measures.

The worldview guiding this investigation is predicated on the assumption the patients’ hands serve as a reservoir and means of transmission of infectious agents. A second assumption of this framework is all patients are by definition susceptible, or at risk, for HAIs. Admission to a healthcare agency increases risk for colonization of patients, who by definition as patients are susceptible to infection. The primary HPB stems from a need to prevent realistic harm from infectious agents.

at Sumter Surgical, says that one of the most important steps you can take to not spread germs is

Sterile surgical clothing or protective devices such as gloves, face masks, goggles, and transparent eye/face shields serve as barriers against microorganisms and are donned to maintain asepsis in the operating room. This practice includes covering facial hair, tucking hair out of sight, and removing jewelry or other dangling objects that may harbor unwanted organisms. This garb must be put on with deliberate care to avoid touching external, sterile surfaces with nonsterile objects including the skin. This ensures that potentially contaminated items such as hands and clothing remain behind protective barriers, thus prohibiting inadvertent entry of microorganisms into sterile areas. Personnel assist the surgeon to don gloves and garb and arrange equipment to minimize the risk of contamination.

Caregivers are trained to provide aseptic wound care, patients are closely monitored compared to their own home setting, and physicians are always nearby to reassess wounds as needed. So where do these infections come from? Literature reviews have opened the gateway to further questions and investigations in order to answer this question. Comparing multiple studies listed in table 1, there are still many unanswered questions as to where infections originate. Most studies are looking into various prevention methods and the organisms present postoperatively, but do not address the question of why these infections are occurring. Strengths and weaknesses in all studies show that one needs to evaluate the studies carefully before consideration for implementation as

Medical asepsis is concerned with destroying pathogenic organisms once they exit the host. To elaborate, medical asepsis technique is a process in which specific measures and procedures are utilized in order to prevent the transmission of disease causing organisms from person to person, or to healthcare staff. General examples of medical asepsis include wearing gloves, sanitizing various surfaces, and wearing Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). A more specific example of medical asepsis would be performing a chemical sterilization of a used gastrointestinal endoscope. Chemically sterilizing an endoscope involves cleansing the external and internal components of the endoscope by interchanging between brushing the parts with a disinfectant solution

Healthcare-associated infections (HAIs), also known as nosocomial infections, are any type of infection a patient develops while receiving treatment for another diagnosis. HAIs are considered the most frequent type of infections in healthcare. Healthcare-associated infections do not only appear in the healthcare setting, but can appear after discharge and while the patient is receiving treatment at home. Many of the HAIs occur when a patient needs an invasive procedure (catheter, central line, and surgery.) The risk of these infections can be decreased if the healthcare providers follow strict aseptic technique when needed, washes hands before and after any contact with a patient, and by monitoring the patient for the slightest sign of an infection.

1- Medical Asepsis:- the term medical asepsis mention those the use of practices to decrease the number, spread and growth of organisms. It is also called clean technique. In medical asepsis, objects are generally referred to as (clean) or (dirty), clean objects are considered that presence of many organisms that are usually not pathogenic. Common medical aseptic measures used for clean or dirty objects are hand hygiene, daily changing of linens, and daily cleaning of floors and hospital furniture(APIC, 2003).

Many nosocomial infections are caused from pathogens in the hospital. Ironically, the healthcare facility can be viewed as the cause for nosocomial infections. Although direct contact is the primary cause of these infections, indirect contact with pathogens must be considered as well. Patients can be exposed to these pathogens in a number of ways, i.e. contact with other patients, improper sterilization of hospital equipment, as well as the lowered immunity the patients themselves present while healing. One-day procedures have become a common practice, especially for non-invasive procedures. While many are not fans of “drive-by surgery”, it has benefits of reducing patients’ exposure to these pathogens. The bedding, clothing, toys, handkerchiefs, and surgical instruments all can serve as vectors in the spread of infection (Hospital Acquired Infections and Prevention).

Hart (2004) states the principle of Aseptic Technique is to prevent the spread of micro organisms to wounds and to protects the nurse and patient from healthcare-associated infections (HCIA). The technique used for less invasive procedures such as intravenous drugs and wound care is the Aseptic No-touch Technique (ANTT) (Pratt et al 2007).