EDMONTON — Preventing surgical site infections starts at the scrub sink, according to a University of Alberta surgeon-scientist who has produced an instructional video on sterile hand washing technique that has just been made available to the world’s surgical teams by the New England Journal of Medicine.
“I want it to be embedded in surgery teams’ knowledge that surgical site infections are detrimental and harmful to our patients,” says Rachel Khadaroo, a U of A medical professor and interim scientific director of Alberta Health Services’ Surgery Strategic Clinical Network. “That is our foundation and the motivation for learning proper surgical scrub technique.”
According to the Government of Canada, surgical site infections affect between 26,000 and 65,000 Canadians each year, and are the leading cause of unplanned hospital readmissions, driving patient complications — even deaths.
And it’s not just a matter of a surgeon washing their hands well: It’s a two- to 10-minute systematic routine of scrubbing the fingernails and cleaning the hands and forearms thoroughly with antimicrobial soap and water or with an alcohol-based gel, all with the goal of keeping germs from entering the patient in the operating room.
“Proper scrub technique will decrease the number of pathogens on your hands and arms so that you can decrease the risk of spreading infection to your patients,” says Khaderoo in the video.
The video is the latest in the prestigious journal’s series of more than 100 Videos in Clinical Medicine aimed at an audience of training or working medical staff. Peer-reviewed just like the printed journal articles, the most popular episodes include how to put on personal protective equipment, how to drain an abscess and how to measure blood pressure.
The video also builds on an earlier series of videos Khadaroo produced for U of A students in 2017, which she followed up with a randomized controlled trial to test their effectiveness in teaching sterile surgical technique. Results showed that students who reviewed the videos along with taking in-person training with a nurse educator had more knowledge and felt better prepared to use it than those who went through in-person training alone.
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To speak with Rachel Khadaroo about her training video, please contact:
Michael Brown, U of A media strategist
michael.brown@ualberta.ca | 780-977-1411