Name: Giselle Chloe B.

Ico
Agency: Pangasinan Provincial Hospital
Shift: 8-4 PM
Clinical Instructor: Jesus Rabe, RN, MSN

“Asepsis and Aseptic Practices in the Operating Room"

Preventing surgical site infection in the operating room is the primary goal of the surgical team,
and all activities performed by the team support this goal. Some of these activities include
patient risk assessment, environmental cleaning, disinfection and sterilization of
instrumentation, patient antibiotic prophylaxis, and the use of standard precautions. However,
operating room activities pertaining to asepsis and aseptic practices have the greatest direct
impact upon the surgical team in helping to reduce the patient's risk to surgical site infection.

The goal of asepsis is to prevent the contamination of the open surgical wound by isolating the
operative site from the surrounding nonsterile environment. The surgical team accomplishes
this by creating and maintaining the sterile field and by following aseptic principles aimed at
preventing microorganisms from contaminating the surgical wound.

Reflection:
As an OR nurse, you should be self-reliant, effective communicator, collaborative, good in
assessment skills. Nurses are confident, independent decision makers. Although they work
under the direction of a surgeon in the operating room, their focus remains on their patients’
welfare, comfort, and safety during operative procedures. Nurses use critical-thinking skills to
anticipate and respond to problems, and they won’t hesitate to alert surgeons and other
members of the surgical team should issues arise. An effective communicator must know how to
communicate quickly, clearly, concisely, and accurately. Operative procedures are cooperative
affairs that require not only carefully orchestrated movements and communication between
practitioners, but also an “I’ve-got-your-back” commitment among members of the surgical
team. Either during surgical procedures or while in recovery, patients rely 100% on the keen
assessment skills of a nurse, strong assessment skills represent the vital safety net that helps to
ensure positive surgical and post-surgical outcomes.