Evaluation of Surgical Scrub Methods for Large Animal Surgeons

Abstract

Surgeons may use either chlorhexidine or povidone iodine for antiseptic preparation of their hands before surgery. A two-brush technique is not necessary.

A review of post-operative infections in veterinary orthopaedic surgery

“…It is has been accepted for decades that everyone involved in direct contact with the surgical field or sterile items should perform a surgical scrub and don sterile gloves. Surgical scrub techniques have been evaluated extensively elsewhere (38,39). Recently, application of alcohol-chlorhexidine combinations have been evaluated as a replacement for surgical scrubbing and have been shown to be more effective than standard surgical scrub methods (40,41).…”

Comparison of an alcohol-based hand sanitation product with a traditional chlorhexidine hand scrub technique for hand hygiene preparation in an equine hospital

“…Bacterial sampling was performed using the "glove juice" method (Wan et al 1997;Rotter et al 2009). Sterile surgical gloves were placed on the hands using the open glove method.…”

Antibacterial Efficacy of Several Surgical Hand Preparation Products Used by Veterinary Students

“…The authors' reply : Thank you for your comments and concerns regarding our recent publication. The use of a neutralizing agent in sampling fluids has recently become emphasized in study design; however, historically, studies in veterinary medicine have been performed without the use of neutralizing agents . At the time of our study design, the FDA standard did not provide clear guidelines regarding the use of neutralizing agents and recommended only that neutralization status be clearly reported .…”

“…It is therefore crucial to neutralize the active agent during the culture period 2,3 to avoid overestimation of efficacy by 0.3-1.1 log 10steps. 4 The authors discuss this as a controversial point in current testing standards and state that the FDA does not provide clear guidelines or request neutralization agents; however, the use of neutralizing agents has been the standard for the European Standardization Norm on testing of presurgical hand asepsis products for over a decade. 5 In May 2015, the FDA clearly requires the use of an appropriate neutralizer in all recovery media in order not to obtain false positive efficacy results.…”