Adequacy of Scrubbing, Gowning and Gloving Among Operating room Nurses

Abstract

The patient care in the operating rooms (OR) is delivered by a team. Nurse is the primary member of the team. A uniform practice among nurses will ensure standard of care. One important practice that forms the base in the prevention of infection is surgical scrubbing, gowning and gloving. The correct performance of these procedures help to protect a patient from infection. All members of the sterile surgical scrub team are required to perform a surgical hand scrub and don sterile gown and gloves before touching sterile equipment or the sterile field. The prevention of surgical wound infections has been a primary concern of the operating room (OR) team for more than a century. The traditional strategy for prevention, in addition to good surgical technique itself, has been scrupulous adherence to classic aseptic practice: scrubbing, gloving, barrier clothing and drapes, instrument sterilization, and a disciplined ritual designed to protect the integrity of the sterile field. Therefore, surgical aseptic technique is one that is subject to constant change and hence a continuous research on this topic is essential to keep abreast with the changing trends in the field of surgery to enhance quality patient outcome.