Goal: To provide consistent and efficient surgical preps of every patient, insuring minimal bacterial contamination to the patient and surgical site in the most time effective manner
Timeframe: An ongoing and constant level of quality patient care regardless of procedure being performed, or practice team members doing prep
Oversight: Surgeon and surgery supervisor will oversee all surgical patients and their prep
Order of Prep:
- Prior to anesthetizing, allow animal to urinate and defecate
- Make sure patient is in a safe and stable anesthetic plane before starting surgical preparation
- Know the procedure and what boundaries of the surgical site need to be shaved/scrubbed/plucked
- Know orthopedic scrub procedures as well as normal soft tissue preps
- Pre-bathe patient when procedure dictates (i.e. TPLO, FHO) to remove excess hair and debris
- Have supplies ready and in good working order
Example
After patient is in a safe surgical plane and under anesthetic supervision, proceed to shave all planes of skin going with the grain of hair growth with # 40 clipper blade. Boundaries reach from hock to inner thigh and middle lumbar. Repeat shave against the grain of hair. Vacuum all excess hair, make stirrups to cover distal limb with zonas tape. Dr A likes vetwrap in addition to zonas. Transport into surgical suite and hang leg accordingly. Don latex gloves and begin timed surgical scrub using Chlorhexidine, going from inner tissue area to edge of shave; alternate with alcohol scrub. Continue this for 10 minutes and finish with betadine spray. Wipe any excess fluids off table to prevent wicking onto drape material.