Asepsis in the context of "Surgical operation"

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⭐ Core Definition: Asepsis

Asepsis is the state of being free from disease-causing micro-organisms (such as pathogenic bacteria, viruses, pathogenic fungi, and parasites). There are two categories of asepsis: medical and surgical. The modern day notion of asepsis is derived from the older antiseptic techniques, a shift initiated by different individuals in the 19th century who introduced practices such as the sterilizing of surgical tools and the wearing of surgical gloves during operations. The goal of asepsis is to eliminate infection, not to achieve sterility. Ideally, an operating field is sterile, meaning it is free of all biological contaminants (e.g. fungi, bacteria, viruses), not just those that can cause disease, putrefaction, or fermentation. Even in an aseptic state, a condition of sterile inflammation may develop. The term often refers to those practices used to promote or induce asepsis in an operative field of surgery or medicine to prevent infection.

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Asepsis in the context of Surgery

Surgery is a medical specialty that uses manual and instrumental techniques to diagnose or treat pathological conditions (e.g., trauma, disease, injury, malignancy), to alter bodily functions (e.g., malabsorption created by bariatric surgery such as gastric bypass), to reconstruct or alter aesthetics and appearance (cosmetic surgery), or to remove unwanted tissues, neoplasms, or foreign bodies.

The act of performing surgery may be called a surgical procedure or surgical operation, or simply "surgery" or "operation". In this context, the verb "operate" means to perform surgery. The adjective surgical means pertaining to surgery; e.g. surgical instruments, surgical facility or surgical nurse. Most surgical procedures are performed by a pair of operators: a surgeon who is the main operator performing the surgery, and a surgical assistant who provides in-procedure manual assistance during surgery. Modern surgical operations typically require a surgical team that typically consists of the surgeon, the surgical assistant, an anaesthetist (often also complemented by an anaesthetic nurse), a scrub nurse (who handles sterile equipment), a circulating nurse and a surgical technologist, while procedures that mandate cardiopulmonary bypass will also have a perfusionist. All surgical procedures are considered invasive and often require a period of postoperative care (sometimes intensive care) for the patient to recover from the iatrogenic trauma inflicted by the procedure. The duration of surgery can span from several minutes to tens of hours depending on the specialty, the nature of the condition, the target body parts involved and the circumstance of each procedure, but most surgeries are designed to be one-off interventions that are typically not intended as an ongoing or repeated type of treatment.

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Asepsis in the context of Operating theater

An operating theater (or operation theater, OT; also known as an operating room or OR, as well as an operating suite or operation suite) is a facility within a hospital where surgical operations are carried out in an aseptic environment.

Historically, the term operating theater referred to a non-sterile, tiered theater or amphitheater in which students and other spectators could watch surgeons perform surgery. Contemporary operating rooms are usually devoid of a theater setting, making the term operating theater a misnomer in those cases.

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Asepsis in the context of Water for injection

Water for injection is water of extra high quality without significant contamination. A sterile version is used for making solutions that will be given by injection. Before such use other substances generally must be added to make the solution isotonic. Isotonic solutions containing water for injection can be given by injection into a vein, muscle, or under the skin. A non-sterile version may be used in manufacturing with sterilization occurring later in the production process.

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