Veterinary Surgical Site Infection Control

This assignment focuses on the crucial topic of preventing and controlling surgical site infections (SSIs) in veterinary practices. It delves into effective disinfection techniques, examines the risks associated with SSIs in surgical settings, and outlines essential strategies for mitigating these risks. The provided content explores various aspects of SSI prevention, including appropriate disinfectant choices, sterile preoperative skin preparation methods, and instrument decontamination protocols.

Running head: VETERINARY SURGICAL PRACTICES
VETERINARY SURGICAL PRACTICES
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1VETERINARY SURGICAL PRACTICES
Appropriate and inappropriate practices
The five best practices that are shown in the video included:
1. Use of hand and feet gloves. Surgeons and surgical assistants are required to wear
sterile surgical gloves in order to carry out operations in an aseptic manner. Gloves
are used only once and then they are disposed off. These help to prevent surgical site
infections and contaminations. Both hand and feet gloves prevent contamination of
the surgical site as well as the operating room. Shoes can be a very good source of
contamination and as a result, feet covers are needed to prevent contamination of
operation theater air and prevent surgical site infection. These also protects the
surgeon from getting infections from the surgery (Eyarefe, 2016).
2. Head and face masks. The human body consists of normal body flora, which can
cause infection of surgical wounds and thus, face masks are highly essential. Head
masks or covers help to control the infection spread through aerosols of hair microbes
that are normally present in the human body. Such microbial aerosols can cause
contamination of the surgical sites, if proper head covers are not used.
3. Sterile surgical instruments in sterile packets. Surgical instruments are highly vital in
surgical techniques and their improper sterilization or usage can give rise to surgical
site infections. Pre-sterilized surgical instruments that are available in sterile packets
are the best ways to reduce contamination and surgical site infections obtained from
surgical instruments (Coisman, Case, Clark, Wellehan, & Ellison, 2013).
4. Sanitization of the surgical table. It is necessary to carry out disinfection of the
surgical table and the area prior to surgery to prevent surgical site infections and

2VETERINARY SURGICAL PRACTICES
contaminations. It also helps to prevent the spread of multi-drug resistant bacteria.
Common disinfectants include phenols, aldehydes like formaldehyde, alcohols like
isopropyl alcohol. Anti-microbial detergents or soaps can also be used (Addie et al.,
2015).
5. Autoclaving of the surgical instruments after surgery. Surgical instruments are
usually sterilized by moist heat using autoclaving techniques. It is necessary to
sterilize surgical instruments after surgery to prevent spread of wound infections from
one surgery to another. The recommended autoclaving temperature is 250ºF for 13-15
minutes and an additional 2-5 minutes for extra safety precautions. Autoclaving helps
top kill the microorganisms that are present in the surgical instruments after the
surgical procedure (Dancer, Stewart, Coulombe, Gregori & Virdi, 2012).
The ten inappropriate practices that are shown in the video included:
1. The VOA surgical assistant nor the surgeon was shown to wash hands prior to
wearing gloves. Gloves do not completely reduce the chances of contamination and
therefore it is necessary to wash and disinfect the hands prior to wearing surgical
gloves. Gloves can tear during surgeries and as a result, clean hands can prevent
bacterial transmission from the surgeon to the patient.
2. The VOA surgical assistant placed the gloves, which would be used to cover her
hands and feet on the table, which was not disinfected. This can cause infections in
surgical sites and can result in the spread of pathogenic microorganisms.
3. During the surgery, the VOA surgical assistant did not wear gloves in her hands. She
used her uncovered hands to open the surgical wrap and touch other surgical

3VETERINARY SURGICAL PRACTICES
instruments, which can cause spread of infection giving rise to surgical site
contaminations.
4. The VOA surgical assistant did not cover her hair completely with the head cover and
some of her hair was exposed, which can give rise to infections.
5. There was no evidence of preparation of the animal for surgery. There was no
evidence of hair clipping. The clipped skin was not shown to be treated with
disinfectants to prevent bacterial contaminations. It is necessary to disinfect with the
use of chlorhexidine or iodine (Davids, Davidson, TenBroeck, Colahan, & Oli, 2015).
6. The surgical wrap, which was used was not shown to sterilized or not prior to
surgery. The VOA surgical assistant held the surgical wrap in her bare hands, which
can cause transmission of infection.
7. The VOA surgical assistant took the body temperature during recovery but did not
monitor heart and pulse rate. Respiratory rate was also not monitored
(Research.utexas.edu, 2017).
8. The animal was not provided with a warm environment like blankets and a heat
source to prevent occurrence of post-surgical hypothermia.
9. The surgical instruments were not cleaned properly prior to autoclaving.
10. The autoclaving was not done properly. It was carried out at 184ºF, when the
temperature should be 250 ºF.
Best practices
The practices, which the VOA surgical assistant did not carry out include washing her
hands with suitable disinfectants. It is necessary to wash hands prior to wearing gloves as it will
prevent the transfer of infection from her hands to the surgical wraps and also to the surgical

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instruments. It is necessary to disinfect hands and wear gloves prior to handling surgical wraps,
surgical instruments and the patient. Gloves can tear sometimes and the presence of disinfected
hands can prevent bacterial contamination to some extent. Wearing gloves also prevent
contamination of surgical sites with body fluids. The surgical assistant did not wear a surgical
gown and as a result her clothing was in contact with the sterile drape of the patient and with the
surgical wraps. The animal needs to be prepared prior to surgery. This includes clipping of hair
and fur from the surgical area at least 1-2 inches from the incision site. The clipped skin needs to
be treated with disinfectants to prevent bacterial contamination. Three applications of surgical
scrub products should be used to prevent bacterial contamination. These products contain
povidone iodine or chlorhexidine. The disinfection starts from the incision site and radiates
towards the clipped area margins in a circular motion. Each of these applications can be
associated with cleansing with alcohol. A final washing of the area with disinfectants and not
soaps can be used to complete the sterilization process (Hillier et al., 2014). It is necessary to
determine whether the anesthetic tubing is connected properly and secured. It is also necessary to
determine whether the patient is stable in the dorsal recumbent position and whether the head is
comfortably resting on the surgical table.
Reflective Summary
Surgical site infections are nosocomial infections, which are surgery associated and is
responsible for 0.8-18% of nosocomial infection occurrence in animal surgeries (Turk, Singh, &
Weese, 2015). Proper practices are necessary to prevent infections of surgical sites. This
assignment has helped me to understand the best practices that are to be carried out prior, during
and after surgeries. It also helped me to understand the practices, which needs to be avoided
before and after surgeries. The best practices were found to be proper disinfection of hands,

5VETERINARY SURGICAL PRACTICES
wearing sterile gloves, face masks, head covers and surgical gowns. It is also necessary to
properly disinfect the surgical environment and the surgical site (in case of the patient). Such
practices will help to prevent contamination and spread of bacterial infections. It is also
necessary to properly sterilize the surgical instruments before and after surgery by the process of
autoclaving. Proper autoclaving temperatures and time is to be maintained to ensure proper
disintegration of the pathogenic microorganisms. Thus, learning all these techniques will
positively impact my role as a VOA.

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Addie, D. D., Boucraut-Baralon, C., Egberink, H., Frymus, T., Gruffydd-Jones, T., Hartmann, K., &
Marsilio, F. (2015). Disinfectant choices in veterinary practices, shelters and households: ABCD
guidelines on safe and effective disinfection for feline environments. Journal of feline medicine
and surgery, Vol: 17(7), pp: 594-605, doi: 10.1177/1098612X15588450.
Coisman, J. G., Case, J. B., Clark, N. D., Wellehan, J. F., & Ellison, G. W. (2013). Efficacy of
decontamination and sterilization of a single-use single-incision laparoscopic surgery
port. American journal of veterinary research, Vol: 74(6), pp: 934-938, doi:
https://doi.org/10.2460/ajvr.74.6.934.
Dancer, S. J., Stewart, M., Coulombe, C., Gregori, A., & Virdi, M. (2012). Surgical site infections
linked to contaminated surgical instruments. Journal of Hospital Infection, Vol: 81(4), pp: 231-
238, doi: 10.1016/j.jhin.2012.04.023.
Davids, B. I., Davidson, M. J., TenBroeck, S. H., Colahan, P. T., & Oli, M. W. (2015). Efficacy of
Mechanical versus Non‐Mechanical Sterile Preoperative Skin Preparation With Chlorhexidine
Gluconate 4% Solution. Veterinary Surgery, Vol: 44(5), pp: 648-652, doi: 10.1111/vsu.12335.
Eyarefe, O. D. (2016). Risk factors, prevention and control strategies for surgical site infections in
veterinary practice in Nigeria-A review. Journal of Veterinary Medicine and Animal
Health, Vol: 8(8), pp: 72-82, doi: 10.5897/JVMAH2015.0434.
Hillier, A., Lloyd, D. H., Weese, J. S., Blondeau, J. M., Boothe, D., Breitschwerdt, E., & Sykes, J. E.
(2014). Guidelines for the diagnosis and antimicrobial therapy of canine superficial bacterial
folliculitis (Antimicrobial Guidelines Working Group of the International Society for Companion

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Animal Infectious Diseases). Veterinary dermatology, Vol: 25(3), pp: 163, doi:
10.1111/vde.12118.
Research.utexas.edu. (2017). Cite a Website - Cite This For Me. Research.utexas.edu. Retrieved 10
November 2017, from
https://research.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2015/12/guideline06.pdf
Turk, R., Singh, A., & Weese, J. S. (2015). Prospective surgical site infection surveillance in
dogs. Veterinary Surgery, Vol: 44(1), pp: 2-8, doi: 10.1111/j.1532-950X.2014.12267.x.