Infection

Question 1

Define Antiseptic

Answer 1

Something that fights against sepsis and the microbes that create infection

Question 2

Define Aseptic

Answer 2

Sterile; free from the microbes that cause infection

Question 3

Define Sepsis

Answer 3

A condition in which harmful bacteria affect the flesh, normally leading to infection and decaying flesh

Question 4

Where were operations carried out before 1845?

Answer 4

In a patients home or hospital ward

Question 5

What would those present for the operation usually wear?

Answer 5

Medical students/ dressers (people who held down patients) would wear their normal clothes
Surgeons would wear their oldest coat- with large amounts of blood and pus on it

Question 6

When was the ‘Black Period’ of surgery?

Answer 6

1850- 1870

Question 7

Why was there a ‘Black Period’ of surgery?

Answer 7

Operations still carried out in unhygienic conditions

Blood loss still a problem

Question 8

What did Semmelweiss observe in the Vienna General Hospital in 1846?

Answer 8

Higher death rate among women who had births delivered by medical students than women who midwives to deliver their baby

Question 9

Why did Semmelweiss believe more women were dying?

Answer 9

Due to medical students carrying out dissections then going straight to delivery room without washing hands.

Question 10

What problems did Semmelweiss face?

Answer 10

Medical students did not want to wash their hands in chlorinated solution as they did not know about germs.
He was mocked then sacked from the hospital.

Question 11

Who copied Semmelweiss’ methods?

Answer 11

James Simpson

Question 12

What did Nightingale believe caused infection?

Answer 12

Miasma

Question 13

How did Nightingale try to solve infection?

Answer 13

Setting high standards for hygiene in hospitals and the training of nurses, eg, one patient per bed

Question 14

When did Louis Pasteur discover Germ Theory?

Answer 14

1861

Question 15

What acid was used to kill parasites in sewers?

Answer 15

Carbolic Acid

Question 16

When did Lister first try using Carbolic Acid?

Answer 16

1865

Question 17

How did Lister discover Carbolic Acid worked?

Answer 17

An operation on 11 year old boy with compound fracture
Soaked bandages in Carbolic Acid and watched wound carefully
After 6 weeks, no sign of infection and the wound had healed

Question 18

How did Lister use Carbolic Acid in operations?

Answer 18

It was sprayed over the operation with the surgeons hands constantly in the mist

Question 19

How did other surgeons find out about Lister’s methods?

Answer 19

He kept good records and published a lot of his findings to encourage others to copy his methods

Question 20

What other key discovery did Lister make?

Answer 20

He introduced catgut instead of silk ligatures

It could be sterilised and would dissolve in the body after several days

Question 21

Why did some doctors oppose Lister’s ideas?

Answer 21

Some did not accept that microbes caused infection
Carbolic acid slowed down operations which could lead to blood loss problems
Did not always copy his methods correctly- if their survival rate did not improve they said Lister was wrong
Lister kept changing his methods- gave the impression he was unsure of his ideas
Equipment was expensive and heavy
Some surgeons had good results without carbolic acid
Nurses resented extra work by being more hygienic

Question 22

What did Koch invent in 1878?

Answer 22

A steam steriliser to ensure instruments were germ free

Question 23

By what decade were most operations carried out in antiseptic conditions?

Answer 23

1890’s

Question 24

What are some of the features of aseptic surgery?

Answer 24

Rubber gloves
Masks
Sterile equipment
Closed operating theatres
Sterile clothes