Surgical disinfection and toweling is a disinfection and isolation measure for surgical incisions and the surrounding skin, which can effectively prevent pathogenic microorganisms from entering the surgical wound, thus reducing the chance of postoperative infection. So, what is the correct way to spread the towel?


First of all, we need to understand the basic principles of turbaning (taking open abdominal surgery as an example):

01, when laying the sheet, both to reveal the surgical incision, but also to minimise the exposure of the skin around the incision.
02, the surgical incision catty is laid within 2~3cm from the surgical incision.
03, the head end above the surgical sheet should be covered with anaesthesia head frame, and the foot end below should be covered with an instrument tray.
04, the surgical sheet should be draped to the left and right edge of the operating table more than 30cm.

In addition to the basic principles of tucking, the following points of tucking should be kept in mind at all times:
01, when passing the surgical incision towel, the surgeon's hand without sterile gloves should not touch the hand of the nurse washing hands.
02. After the surgeon spreads the incision towel, he/she disinfects the surgical hands again, puts on the sterile surgical gown, wears the sterile gloves, and then spreads the sterile surgical sheet with the nurse who washes his/her hands at the other (other) level.
03. When the hand-washing nurse passes the surgical sheet, she should hold the corner of the sheet and turn it inwards to cover the back of her hand, so that it is not exposed outside the surgical sheet.
04. When opening the sterile surgical sheet, the operator's sterile surgical gown below the waist should not be touched.
05, can not be moved at will has been laid sterile surgical sheet, such as the need to move only to the incision outside the move.
06, should follow the principle of first dirty and then clean: first lay the relatively unclean area (such as the lower abdomen, perineum), and finally lay the side close to the operator.

How exactly should we carry out the correct way of laying sheets?
Generally speaking, there are two ways to do this.
Method 1: After opening the outer layer of the sterile bag, the hand-washing nurse disinfects the surgical hands, and the roving nurse opens the inner layer of the sterile sheet with the sterile holding forceps: the order is to open the proximal side first, and check the sterilisation chemical indicators in the bag are qualified before going to the opposite side to open the opposite side, and to ensure that there are 4-6 layers of the spreading towels on the sterile instrument table, and that the surrounding sterile sheet hangs down more than 30cm under the edge of the car, and to ensure that the lower edge of the sterile sheet is above the air return opening. Assist the hand-washing nurse to wear sterile surgical gown and gloves. Then the visiting nurse and the hand-washing nurse open the sterile dressings and sterile articles one by one.

Method 2: After opening the outer layer of the sterile bag, the hand-washing nurse opens the inner layer of the sterile sheet with sterile holding forceps (the same as the method of opening by the roving nurse in method 1) and uses the sterile holding forceps to knock the sterile items into the sterile instrument table by herself, and then puts the sterile instrument table in an unoccupied position to carry out surgical hand disinfection, and the roving nurse assists the hand-washing nurse to put on a sterile gown and wear sterile gloves without touching the gown.

Finally, it is important to mention the precautions to be taken in ordering:
The principles of aseptic technique should be followed.
Cloth sheet spreading Incision sheet 1/3 folded edge to ensure the number of layers of surgical sheet spreading; around the surgical incision to ensure 4~6 layers of coverage.
When instruments and equipment are used in the sterile area, such as C-arms, sterile surgical sheets or protective covers should be added and removed after use.
When the sterile surgical sheet is suspected to be contaminated or wet with liquid, it should be covered or replaced in time.