Aspesis and Aseptic Technique

Prior to the 19th century, several million patients in hospitals and clinics undergoing surgery would explicitly die of infectious disease spread during scalpel-to-skin contact. These deadly consequences followed behind the lives of patients and surgeons daily, rising to become a great issue. It wasn’t until the invention of asepsis and aseptic technique, fostered by Joseph Lister, that revolutionized the world of surgery and infectious disease spread. 

Asepsis is a state at which microorganisms from surgical practices are eliminated in order to obtain a stable and sterile environment. Aseptic technique is a procedure now commonly used by everyday surgeons to minimize the spread of disease and infection during surgery. The combination of these two practices serve to prevent the spread of germs during surgeries through strict guidelines and sterile instruments. Such an innovation has served as a practical and essential tool to achieve surgical success. 

Without utilizing aseptic technique, the logistics of surgery would be considered a clean environment. This means that any type of surgical instrument or material may be free from dirt and stains but could still have some free-reigning microorganisms and bacteria that could interfere with a procedure. Several examples include boxed gloves and boxed masks that haven’t been properly sterilized for medical procedures. Through aseptic technique, the logistics of surgery would be considered a sterile environment.  The surgical instruments or materials are completely eliminated of any living microorganisms or bacteria living on the median. These can be used in any health based procedure, whether it be dressing wounds, inserting central venous catheters, giving dialysis, inserting PICC lines, or performing surgery. 

Although, how did the process of aseptic technique come to be? Former British surgeon Joseph Lister felt a fond interest while studying microscopy and medical disease transmission. He believed that several fatal surgical tragedies typically occur during disease spread in an open operating room. He hypothesized that microbes can prevent the spread by utilizing carbolic acid. Using carbolic acid, a sterile substance, to clean surgical instruments and wounds with the promotion of basic sanitary hospital manners (clean surgical attire) was seen to be effective in minimizing disease spread. This practice continued to develop through steam sterilization, which is a process that preps instruments by placing them in autoclaves (a machine that exposes the instrument to extreme heat pressure) until sterilized. In addition, barriers like masks and gowns were implemented through strict sterile-to-sterile guidelines, meaning only sterile equipment can make contact with other sterile equipment. These two methods block out external germs from entering a surgical room and infecting a patient critically. 

During its birth, aseptic technique was heavily criticized and judged as “not effective”. However, with the increasing implementation of this technology came a decreasing abundance of surgical deaths through disease transmission. Eventually, this technology became more widely renowned and used in everyday clinical practice. The finding of asepsis and aseptic technique serves as a pivotal milestone for the health and sanitation of the field of surgery.

Written by Anonymous at Incisionary

Citations

Cleveland Clinic. (n.d.). Aseptic technique. Cleveland Clinic. https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/treatments/aseptic-technique

Mangram, A. J., Horan, T. C., Pearson, M. L., Silver, L. C., & Jarvis, W. R. (1999). Guideline for prevention of surgical site infection, 1999. Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology, 20(4), 250–278. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29981599/

Liu, Y., Song, Y., Yu, X., Hu, C., Wang, Y., & Wang, Z. (2023). A review of the progress in the aseptic technique and infection control in the operating room. Journal of Healthcare Engineering, 2023, 1–10. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9854334/

The Operating Room Global. (n.d.). Aseptic technique. https://www.operatingroomissues.org/aseptic-technique/