# Preparing an Aseptic Field

## Overview

Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) during procedures includes the safe management of ‘sharps’, encompasses high-level measures such as health facility design and management, protocol-based measures such as adherence to national and facility level guidelines, and individual actions by each health care provider and ancillary staff member. The health care provider is encouraged to familiarise themselves with their facility’s specific IPC protocols and reporting systems, which is outside the scope of this module.

All clinical procedures pursue the IPC goal of asepsis. The traditional hierarchy of sterile, aseptic, and clean is outdated, poorly-defined and misleading, and is no longer recommended. While this procedure is commonly referred to as preparing a 'sterile' trolley, achieving 'sterility' is technically impossible.

Guiding principles

## Preparing a critical aseptic field

The aseptically-prepared work area including 'sterile' surfaces of equipment and consumables are treated as non-touch

key-parts

key-parts

critical components of the equipment that are sterile when unopened and when contaminated are most likely to introduce infection, such as catheter tips and dressing packs

. After hand hygiene, a sheet from a sterile pack is draped over a prepared general aseptic tray and sterile-packaged equipment is opened without touching any part of the aseptic field. The patient is draped to expose only the aseptic

key-site

key-site

insertion sites or open wounds/broken skin

. Sterile gloves are donned for the procedure and an assistant must handle non-sterile items such as medication vials.

## References