define surgical asepsis and differentiate between medical and sergical asepsis?

Answer 1

Medical asepsis is clean technique in which you use clean gloves,gown etc. Surgical asepsis is sterile technique in which you must maintain with the use of gloves, gown,mask etc absolute sterility at all times.

Answer 2

1

Answer 3

Surgical Asepsis

Answer 4

The term asepsis essentially means uncontaminated. So what is the difference between surgical and medical asepsis? I think you are looking for degrees of difference. The medical profession on a whole attempts to achieve asepsis in all settings. This is not possible but it can be approached. The surgical suite is not completely sterile, but it is very close. That would be defined as surgical asepsis. The surgeons attempt to maintain asepsis during a surgical procedure using surgical drapes to protect the surgery site, gloves, gowns, caps, shoe covers and masks to reduce contamination to a minimum. In a normal hospital setting you will not see such extremes to attain asepsis. Normally, you will see hospital staff in unique clothing and see regular and earnest hand-washing. This is not surgical asepsis but it is much improved over typical household or business environment asepsis. I hope this comes close to answering your question.

Answer 5

Medical Asepsis

Answer 6

Medical asepsis can be though of as universal precautions and preventing the spread of disease from patient to patient,

"The practice of medical asepsis helps to contain infectious organisms and to maintain an environment free from contamination. The techniques used to maintain medical asepsis include hand washing, gowning and wearing facial masks when appropriate, as well as separating clean from contaminated or potentially contaminated materials and providing information to patients about basic hygienic practices. Appropriate hand washing by the nurse and the patient remains the most important factor in preventing the spread of microorganisms. "(1)

Please remember that these items used are _clean but not sterile_. The hand washing is few steps above what you would do at home, but at not to the level of what is done in the OR.

Surgical asepsis is the total absence of pathogens in the surgical field. To this end:

*Non-sterile hats and masks are worn by all persons in the OR to prevent hair or respiratory secretions from contaminating the field.
*Patients hair that could fall into the field is clipped
*Patients skin is scrubbed with a surgical soap
*Those who function on the operative fields scrub their hands in a similar fashion using soaps similar to the patient prep soap.
*Sterile (pathogen free) gloves and gowns are worn by the in the sterile field.
*Patient is draped in a sterile sheet
*Care is taken not to contaminate the sterile field with non-sterile items

Note: the floor, walls and other items in the OR are not sterile, but anything brought into the sterile field must be sterilized and packaged to maintain that sterility.

Answer 7

All the above respondents answered well, this will help you to understand the subject in question:

Nurses maintain the immediate health care environment. Because they provide care for a variety of patients, the risk of contamination from pathogenic microorganisms is increased. The practice of medical asepsis and standard precautions provides the nurse with techniques for destroying or containing pathogens and for preventing contamination to other people or to bedside materials and equipment.

MEDICAL ASEPSIS:

The practice of medical asepsis helps to contain infectious organisms and to maintain an environment free from contamination. The techniques used to maintain medical asepsis include hand washing, gowning and wearing facial masks when appropriate, as well as separating clean from contaminated or potentially contaminated materials and providing information to patients about basic hygienic practices. Appropriate hand washing by the nurse and the patient remains the most important factor in preventing the spread of microorganisms.

One common example of medical asepsis involves the steps taken by the nurse to ensure that only clean linen is applied to each patient's bed. Clean linen remains in the clean linen cabinet until taken to the patient's room. The hands of the health care worker are washed before handling the clean linen. Unused bed linen from one patient's room cannot be returned to the clean linen cabinet and cannot be used for any other patient. This linen is considered soiled and placed in the soiled linen bag.

Standard Precautions
Standard precautions combine the major features of universal precautions and body substance isolation. These standard precautions alert the health care worker to patient situations that require special barrier techniques. These barrier techniques are used when working with any patient where potential or actualized contact with blood or body fluid exists.

Universal Precautions
Universal precautions help control contamination from bloodborne viruses such as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and hepatitis viruses. When in contact with a patient's blood or any body secretion that may be contaminated with blood, protective measures such as wearing gloves, gown, facial mask, and/or goggles must be followed.Go to External Links page

Body Substance Isolation
Body substance isolation protects against bacterial organisms that may exist in body substances. Body substance isolation applies in all patient encounters regardless of the diagnosis. The application of gloves for contact with moist body surfaces and areas of nonintact skin, gowns when in contact with body secretions, and facial mask when in danger of contact with respiratory droplet secretions, prevents the contamination of both health care worker and patient.

SURGICAL ASEPSIS:

Asepsis and concern for patient safety in the operating room are team responsibilities involving nurses, surgeons, and anesthesiologists. Meaningless rituals now being observed in the OR must be replaced by practices and procedures based on sound principles of aseptic technique. Modern instrumentation and technology, though relieving the surgeon and anesthesiologist of many of the manual tasks which once occupied them, have not solved the problems of infection control in the operating suite. Apathy, carelessness, and indifference may even increase as a by-product of technology, unless curbed by moral, ethical and legal constraints. Asepsis is not a static concept. Operating room policies and procedures need constant review and reexamination. Enforcement of these policies and rules to maintain good aseptic technique requires the cooperation of all who enter the OR suite.

SUMMARY:

Basic principles, rituals, and surgical conscience are essential components of surgical asepsis. Surgical asepsis has become too complicated. Protective asepsis describes principles of good hygiene, sanitation, and impeccable aseptic technique; the term has received renewed interest in the advent and increased awareness of bloodborne diseases. Rituals may actually enhance learning and efficiency in the operating room even though they may or may not directly affect nosocomial infection rates.

Answer 8

Never gave too much thought about that