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S
o devoted was a spine surgeon to his skin prep that he
was moved to say: "You can cheat on your spouse, but you
can't cheat on your 6-minute prep." Don't misunderstand.
He brought up infidelity only to show how faithful he was
to his prep.
"He was very particular," says Margaret Sherman, RN, BSN, clinical
director of the Hamilton (N.J.) Endoscopy & Surgery Center. "Six min-
utes of scrubbing and prepping: That's how he was taught."
Couple that with the surgeon's superstitious streak and the fact that
he'd never had an infection with his 6-minute prep and, yes, you
guessed it, that spine surgery was wed to his prep.
Surgical Skin Antisepsis Done Right
10 tips for ensuring your patients begin their surgical procedure
with an aseptic surgical site.
Dan O'Connor | Editor-in-Chief
• SCRUB AND PAINT The fundamental basis for preventing surgical site
infections is the antiseptic preparation of the skin at the surgical site.
Pamela
Bevelhymer,
RN,
BSN
