Outpatient Surgery Magazine, providing current information on Surgical Services, Surgical Facility Administration, Outpatient Surgery News and Trends, OR Excellence and more.
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8 4 O U T P AT I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E O N L I N E | J U N E 2 0 1 4 S urgical skin asepsis is like many areas of medicine: fraught with misconceptions that are often in error but seldom in doubt. Want to start a great debate? Ask your surgeons and nurses to defend their skin prepping prefer- ences and beliefs. Should you wear a long-sleeved jacket when you apply a prep? Which antiseptic should you use for vaginal antisepsis? Here are 10 questions to get the discussion going, followed by their AORN-approved answers. 1. Is it necessary to wear a long-sleeved jacket when performing patient skin antisepsis? Yes. We get this question a lot. Some of us were taught that we should remove our jacket before applying a prep. The thinking was that the sleeve could contaminate the area you're prepping. But if the RN cir- culator performs the pre-operative skin antisepsis without wearing a long-sleeved jacket, skin squames from her bare arms may drop onto the area that is being prepped and may increase the patient's risk for a surgical site infection. The recommendation for nonscrubbed person- nel to wear long-sleeved jackets in the OR or invasive procedure room is not a new recommendation. It has been a part of the AORN "Recommended Practices for Surgical Attire" since 1994. Wearing long-sleeved attire helps contain skin squames shed from bare arms. 2. Should I remove a patient's nail polish or artificial nails before prepping her? Yes, if the patient is having hand or foot surgery. Nails on the operative extremity should be clean and natural without artificial nail surfaces or polish. The evidence review for AORN's new recommended practices document (Recommended practices for preoperative patient skin anti- sepsis. [In Press] In: Perioperative Standards and Recommended S U R G I C A L S K I N A S E P S I S © 2014 Clorox Professional Products Company. NI-24691 *Association of periOperative Registered Nurses (AORN) Recommended Practices for Preoperative Patient Skin Antisepsis (2012) Perioperative Standards and Recommended Practices: 445-463. AORN does not endorse any commercial company's products or services. AORN says 2 CHG showers. Aplicare says DONE. USE 1: Night before procedure USE 2: Day of procedure 2 single-use packs attached by a perforated seal ... everything needed for 2 cleanses Designed to meet AORN guidelines for pre-procedural skin cleansing* Bilingual waterproof instructions encourage patient compliance Convenient tray included for soaking cloths introduces the 2-in-1 CHG skin cleansing kit. Get a free sample at www.AplicareCleansingKit.com. OSE_1406_part2_Layout 1 6/13/14 11:41 AM Page 84