The practice of medical asepsis helps to contain infectious organisms and to maintain an environment free from contamination. The techniques used to maintain medical asepsis include hand washing, gowning and wearing facial masks when appropriate, as well as separating clean from contaminated or potentially contaminated materials and providing information to patients about basic hygienic practices. Appropriate hand washing by the nurse and the patient remains the most important factor in preventing the spread of microorganisms.
One common example of medical asepsis involves the steps taken by the nurse to ensure that only clean linen is applied to each patient's bed. Clean linen remains in the clean linen cabinet until taken to the patient's room. The hands of the health care worker are washed before handling the clean linen. Unused bed linen from one patient's room cannot be returned to the clean linen cabinet and cannot be used for any other patient. This linen is considered soiled and placed in the soiled linen bag.
Standard Precautions:
Standard precautions combine the major features of universal precautions and body substance isolation. These standard precautions alert the health care worker to patient situations that require special barrier techniques. These barrier techniques are used when working with any patient where potential or actualized contact with blood or body fluid exists.
Universal Precautions:
Universal precautions help control contamination from bloodborne viruses such as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and hepatitis viruses. When in contact with a patient's blood or any body secretion that may be contaminated with blood, protective measures such as wearing gloves, gown, facial mask, and/or goggles must be followed.
Guidelines for Specific Institutions:
Methods to control the spread of infections are standardized in recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). These prevention standards are applied in all health care settings and modified according to the needs of each health care facility. The health care worker must practice within the guidelines of the specific institution.
