J U L Y 2 0 1 9 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y. N E T • 6 7
4 Steps to Better Skin Prepping
Improve application practices in your ORs with advice and lessons learned
from experts at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.
Daniel Cook | Executive Editor
H
ow difficult
is it to prep
the skin for
surgery?
You pick an
antiseptic agent and paint it
on in concentric circles,
beginning at the incision
site and working outward,
or scrub it in with a back-
and-forth brushing motion.
What can possibly go
wrong? As it turns out, plen-
ty — and your OR team
might not even be aware
they're slacking.
When infection prevention
experts at the University of
Texas Southwestern
Medical Center in Dallas
noticed an uptick in surgical site infection rates, they audited the sur-
gical team's prepping practices during 51 procedures performed in
May 2017.
"We noticed staff didn't always meet required application times, use
the correct application method or allow enough time for preps to
dry," says Doramarie Arocha, PhD, MS, MT(ASCP)SM, CIC, FAPIC,
• PHYSICIAN CHAMPION Michael Wait, MD, professor of cardiovascular
and thoracic surgery, helped push for improved prepping practices at the
University of Texas Southwestern in Dallas.
UT
Southwestern
