Medical-and-Surgical-Asepsis

Antiseptic - A chemical solutions , like alcohol, that inhibits the growth of microorganisms. It can be used directly onto the skin.

Chain of infection - It is a process by which a person has an infection and transmit to susceptible host. The bacteria or any pathogens can grow and develop in the reservoir of a person.

Contamination - Both sterile and aseptic can get contaminated from the things that filled with pathogens. Sterile things when it gets contact with the non-sterile things, resulting in non-sterile things. When the aseptic item get into contact with the disease-producing organisms, thus it became contaminated.

Decontamination - It is a process by which physical or chemical substances are used to remove pathogens from the item so that we can freely touch things safely.

Disinfect - the process of using physical or chemical means to destroy
pathogens, excluding the spores.

Healthcare-associated infection - You can get pathogens by going to the hospital place. The most common healthcare associated infection is urinary tract infection (UTI).

Iatrogenic infection - You can get pathogens by undergoing procedures by healthcare providers.

Mode of transmission - the manner in which the infectious organism acquired
by the host.

Occupational exposure - Healthcare providers can get pathogens during their duty time.

Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) - specialized equipment and attire used
by healthcare workers to protect them from infections. These include gloves,
masks, gowns, and goggles.

Standard precaution - Rules and steps that healthcare providers must follow to prevent infections from spreading between patients and healthcare workers.

Sterilization - Completely eradicated pathogens, even the spore ones.

Asepsis - Refer to a condition in which the individual and his/her surrounding environment are free of any microorganisms.

Sepsis - Small infection turns into a big body-wide emergency. It’s not just the infection itself—it’s your body’s extreme response to it. Comes from an old Greek word for “decay” or “rotten.” It’s about bacterial contamination (germs making things bad). Germs gone wild, making things rot or making you super sick.

Aseptic - Something is free of pathogens (no harmful germs like bacteria or viruses).

Aseptic technique - Rules to stay super clean during surgery.

Medical asepsis - for general care— keeping things safe day-to-day; reducing pathogens but not everything. Also known as clean technique. Prevent pathogens to spread from one person to another person.

Surgical asepsis - For specific area like in the operating room, high-risk moments; Totally eradicated germs around the environment. Also known as sterile technique

Sterilization - To kill germs completely, even the toughest germs (endospores). Liquids or gases can be sterilized by filtration. Sterilant does the sterilizing the pathogens. A common way to sterilize things is the HEAT. If you want the food sterilize, then you heat it sufficiently without ruining the food’s quality; the main target germs are the endospores of a pathogen, specifically Clostridium Botulinum, which can produce toxins that can harm to your body. Clostridium. This lighter heat treatment is called COMMERCIAL STERILIZATION.

Degerming or degermation - When you get a shot, like a vaccine or medicine, the nurse or doctor wipes your skin with an alcohol swab first. This is called "degerming" or "degermation." It’s a way to clean the spot where the needle will go in.

Isolation precaution - it is a process of separating an individual with an infectious disease from the healthy population to prevent the spread of infection to other individuals. There are two tiers of isolation precautions to prevent transmission of infectious agents: Standard and Transmission-Based Precautions.

• Standard precaution - Basic rules that healthcare providers must follow when giving a care to patients.

• Transmission-based precaution - It goes beyond the standard precaution, focuses on the specific infection that a person have. these precautions are based on the mode
  of transmission of the infectious agents and are classified into (1) contact precautions; (2) droplet precautions and (3) airborne precautions.

1.) Contact precautions - are special steps taken to stop infections that spread when you touch a patient or things around them, like their bed, clothes, or medical tools. These objects can carry germs and are called "fomites" (a fancy word for stuff that germs stick to). For example, one germ that spreads this way is Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), a tough kind of bacteria that doesn’t respond to some antibiotics and can cause skin infections or worse.

2.) Droplet precautions - are rules to stop infections that spread through tiny wet drops when someone coughs, sneezes, or talks. These drops come from the mouth or nose (respiratory tract) and can carry germs to other people nearby.

3.) Airborne precautions - are special steps taken to stop diseases that spread through the air when tiny germ-carrying particles float around and get breathed in by others. These germs can travel farther than the droplets from coughing or sneezing (like with Droplet Precautions) and stay in the air longer.

Mnemonics that are related to airborne disease

M: Measles

T: Tuberculosis (caused by MTB)

V: Varicella (chickenpox)

SANITATION

- A process of cleaning things, such as glass, water glass, and other things that are used by other person with a sick, this is used for preventing the pathogens from spreading between persons. The goal is to make sure one person’s germs don’t spread to the next person who uses the item.

• Biocide or Germicide: These are like germ assassins. They kill all kinds of tiny living things (microorganisms) like bacteria, fungi, or viruses—but they might not always kill super tough forms like endospores (a kind of germ “seed” that’s hard to destroy).

• Fungicide: A specific killer just for fungi (think mold or mushrooms). It wipes them out.

• Virucide: This targets viruses and shuts them down so they can’t infect anything.

• Treatments that don’t kill, just pause (-stat or -stasis): Some things don’t kill germs but stop them from growing or multiplying. The names end in “-stat” or “-stasis,” which means “to stop” or “keep steady.”

  • Example: Bacteriostasis means stopping bacteria from growing. It’s like hitting pause on them. If you take away the stopper (like a bacteriostatic chemical), the bacteria might start growing again.