Surgeons and medical personnel scrub themselves to enter an operating room, donning sterile surgical gowns, caps, facemasks, and gloves. Scrubbing is time-consuming but ensures patient safety. Medical students often struggle with the process, but even experienced surgeons make mistakes.
When surgeons and other medical personnel sterilize themselves as much as possible to enter an operating room, the process is known as “scrubbing.” This ongoing washing involves washing hands and arms thoroughly, donning a sterile surgical gown, cap, and facemask, and wearing surgical gloves. The wash is designed to make the operating room as clean as possible, and once someone has done the wash, it is known as ‘sterile’, meaning it is safe to work in the surgical field. “Non-sterile” people and objects, by the way, are still extremely clean, they’re just not clean enough to be safe for the patient.
The order of steps involved in scrubbing varies by hospital, but usually the process begins with wearing a “scrub cap,” a cap that covers all of your hair to ensure it doesn’t contaminate the surgical field, followed by from a face mask. Next, the hands and arms should be meticulously cleaned with antibacterial soap, taking care to avoid coming into contact with anything non-sterile, such as sink surrounds, operating room doors, and operating room clothing. operating room. A nail brush is used to scrub the nails and clean underneath them, and a specific number of strokes is often prescribed to ensure that the hands and arms are as clean as possible.
Once someone has finished washing their hands and arms, you enter the operating room and a surgical nurse helps the person “get dressed”. The nurse holds an autoclaved gown open for the surgeon to slip into and helps the surgeon secure the gown. Next, gloves are offered for the surgeon’s hands. Once this process is complete, the person is considered fully washed and sterile.
Washing is time consuming, but contributes significantly to patient safety by ensuring that patients are not exposed to anything dangerous. During the procedure in the operating room, medical staff also look at each other, checking that no one has touched anything non-sterile. If someone comes in contact with something considered non-sterile, they will have to repeat the washing operation in progress.
Medical students often struggle with scrubbing, because it’s an unfamiliar and painstaking process. It can also be quite exciting for students, as it puts them in immediate contact with the practice of medicine, giving them a taste of what surgery is like. Most medical students make mistakes the first few times they sign up to watch surgeries, because they aren’t familiar with the process and the delicate dance that takes place in the operating room, but that’s nothing to worry about. Even experienced and stately surgeons can tell stories about gaffes they’ve made while scrubbing, like touching an unsterile instrument and being told to scrub again.
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