Surg 102--Chapter 15 (B&K) Flashcards
aerosol
Dispersion of fine mist, droplets, or particulate matter into air.
antisepsis
Prevention of sepsis by the exclusion, destruction, or inhibition of growth or multiplication of microorganisms from body tissues and fluids.
antiseptics
Inorganic chemical compounds that combat epsis by inhibiting the growth of microoganisms without necessarily killing them. They are used on skin and tissue to arrest the growth of endogenous microorganisms (resident flora), and they must not destroy tissue.
asepsis
Absence of microorganisms that cause disease, freedom from infection; exclusion of microorganisms. Not the same as sterile.
aseptic technique
Methods by which contamination with microorganisms is prevented.
barrier
Material used to reduce or inhibit the migration or transmission of microorganisms in the environment. Barriers include attire of personnel, drapes over furniture and patients, packaging of supplies, and filters in ventilating system.
carrier
Person who has potentially pathogenic microoganisms on or in his body and disperses them into the environment without becoming ill from the pathogen.
contaminated
Soiled or infected by microorganisms.
cross-contamination
Transmission or microoganisms from patient to patient and from inanimate objects to patients and vice versa.
decontamination
Cleaning and disinfecting or sterilizing processes carried out to make contaminated items safe to handle.
disinfection
Chemical or mechanical destruction of most pathogens rendering an object safe to handle.
fomite
Inanimate object that may be contaminated with infectious organisms and that serves to transmit disease
irreducible minimum
Microbial burden cannot get any lower. Item is sterile to its highest degree.
isolation
Special precautions taken to prevent the transmission of microorganisms from specific body areas.
pathogenic
Producing or capable of producing disease.
pathogenic microorganism
Microorganisms that cause infectious disease. They can invade healthy tissue through some power of their own or can injure tissue by a toxin they produce.
sepsis
Severe toxic febrile state resulting from infection with pyogenic microorganisms, with or without associated septicemia.
spatial relationships
An awareness of sterile, unsterile, clean, and contaminated areas and their proximity to each other. This includes the height of scrubbed team members in relation to each other and the sterile field. The circulating nurse must be aware of closeness to the sterile field and the appropriate means to control environmental contaminants.
Standard Precautions
Procedures followed to protect personnel from contact with the blood and body fluids of all patients.
sterile
Free of living microorganisms, including spores.
sterile field
Area around the site of incision into tissue or site of introduction of an instrument into a body orifice that has been prepared for the use of sterile supplies and equipment. This area includes all furniture covered with sterile drapes and all personnel who are properly attired in sterile garb.
sterile technique
Methods by which contamination with microorganisms is prevented to maintain sterility throughout the surgical procedure.
terminal sterilization and disinfection
Procedures carried out for the destruction of pathogens at the end of the surgical procedure in the OR or other areas of patient contact.
unsterile
Inanimate object that has not been subjected to a sterilization process; the outside wrapping of a package containing a sterile item; a person who has not prepared to enter the sterile field.
