that cloth used in operations

[redsummershoes]

you know, the one with a hole in through which the dr/nurse operates.
what is it for ?

Keeping everything sterile!

but they put on that orange stuff all over?

admits to watching too much supervet

It's more sterile than you are

It creates a sterile field onto which sterile instruments can be on, surgeons in their sterile gowns can move against (otherwise they would be contaminated everytime they went near the table).

Ex-Operating-Theatre-nurse here - The orange stuff is antiseptic - it kills most, but not all of the germs on the skin. The sterile cloth (generally disposable paper in Operating Theatres today) means that the field around the incision is properly sterile, so the surgeons and scrub nurse can touch it or put instruments down on it without them becoming contaminated, and that contamination being introduced into the wound.

So the drapes are sterlile - the skin not covered by the drapes get prepped with antiseptic or alcoholic scrub solution. The surgeon and nurse put sterile gowns and gloves on so then the whole area is sterile.

ah, ok. thanks for explaining.

I had an op for an ovarian cyst about three years ago. I am lucky in that , as an adult, I had only been in hospital once - to have my daughter. The morning after my op I called the ward sister in a panic because I thought I had caught a really nasty infection because my stomach had turned orange. She very gently explained to me!!

Can I ask a follow up question?

What is the cloth they use to mop up blood? I’ve been watching a lot of Grey’s Anatomy and I’m curious it looks like a muslin?!

Swab! It is like a loose muslin. Very absorbent.

Excellent thanks!

Diana. Regarding swabs, they have to be carefully counted. You have to finish with the same number you started with before you begin to sew up the patient. Same with instruments. Hopefully, this way, nothing gets left inside. 😱

The swabs all have a stripe of x-ray opaque thread running through them, so they are visible in the event they are left in the wound.

As the scrub nurse, I was responsible for counting the swabs, sharps (needles and scalpel blades) and instruments, to make sure that nothing was left in, and every scrub nurse I have worked with was meticulous about it, but mistakes do occasionally happen.

thank you for explaining. very interesting!