ASEPIC PRACTICES
Medical Asepsis:
Refers to measures aimed at control and reduce the number or
spread of microorganisms. It is also called as "clean techniques".
Using barriers and cleaning and sterilizing are important septic measures, but
most important of all is hand hygiene. Medical asepsis practice includes hand
hygiene, gloving, gowning and disinfection. Surgical Asepsis:
Refers to Sterile technique, to be sterile, an object must be
free from all microorganisms. Sterile techniques are used to prevent the
introduction or spread of pathogens from the environment. Surgical Procedures-
when a body cavity is entered. When doing a sterile procedure like IV
catheters, injections, urinary catheterization, irrigation of drainage tubes
that enter in to the sterile body parts.
MEDICAL ASEPSIS
1. HAND HYGIENE:
Any infectious agent transmitted by the contact or droplet
route can potentially be transmitted by touch. Microorganisms are either
present on the hands most of the time (resident flora) or acquired during
activities such as healthcare (transient flora).
Nothing is more effective than hand hygiene. Which includes
either hand washing with soap and water or cleansing the hands with a waterless
alcohol based cleanser.
Factor that contributes poor hand
hygiene are
·
Lack
of patient activities such as checking blood pressure, checking vital signs.
·
Common
misconception that wearing gloves and gowns can substitute for hand hygiene.
·
Understaffing
and high workload
·
Inaccessibility
of the sinks or dispensers for soap or alcohol based cleanser.
·
Skin
irritation and dryness
Why Hand Hygiene is Important in
Clinical setting?
Hands can become contaminated with infectious agents through
contact with a patient, patient surroundings, the environment, or other
healthcare workers. Cross-contamination can occur from one site to another in
the same patient, between healthcare worker and patient, between patient or
healthcare worker and the environment, or between healthcare workers.
Practicing hand hygiene before every episode of patient contact (including
between caring for different patients and between different care activities for
the same patient) and after any activity or contact that potentially results in
hands becoming contaminated (such as removal of gloves) reduces the risk of
cross-contamination.
Transmission of pathogens by hands (picture insertion for
each point)
§ Organisms present on patient skin or
in the inanimate environment
§ Organism transfer to health-care
workers' hands
§ Organism survival on hands
§ Defective hand cleansing, resulting
in hands remaining contaminated
§ Cross-transmission of organisms by
contaminated hands
§ Failure to cleanse hands during
patient care results within-patient cross transmission
When you have to perform Hand
hygiene?
Five movements of hand hygiene
1.
Before touching a patient
Clean your
hands before touching a patient and their immediate surroundings to protect
the patient against harmful germ from the hands of healthcare
workers
2.
Before a procedure
Clean the
hand immediately before a procedure to prevent entering of harmful germs into
the patient body.
3.
After a procedure or a body fluids
fluids exposure risk
Clean the
hands immediately after procedure or body fluid exposure risk
4.
After Touching a patient
Clean your
hands before touching a patient and their immediate surroundings to protect the
healthcare worker and health care surroundings.
5.
After touching a patient soundings
Clean your
hands after touching any object in a patient's immediate surrounding's when the
patient has not been touched to protect the healthcare worker and health care
surroundings.
Products used for
hand hygiene
Hand hygiene using alcohol-based hand rubs is much more
effective against the majority of common infectious agents on hands than hand
hygiene with plain or antiseptic soap and water. Most published clinical
studies that have demonstrated reductions in HAIs with the use of alcohol-based
hand rubs have been associated with products that contain at least 80%, alcohol
(ethenol (80%), isopropanol (70%)), 0.5% chlorhexidine and a skin emollient
(Grayson et al 2009). Plain soaps act by mechanical removal of microorganisms
and have no antimicrobial activity. They are sufficient for general social
contact and for cleansing of visibly soiled hands.
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