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Asepsis Terms
Terminology of asepsis and sterile technique
Question | Answer |
---|---|
Asepsis | Absence of pathogenic microorganisms |
Antiseptic | Substance commonly used on living tissue to inhibit the growth an reproduction of microbes to prevent infection |
Aseptic technique | Methods practiced by the surgical team to prevent microbial contamination of the surgical environment |
Bacteriocidal | Substance that destroys/kills bacteria |
Bacteriostatic | Substance that inhibits the growth and reproduction of bacteria |
Bioburden | The number of microbes or amount of organic debris on an object at any given time |
Contamination | The presence of pathogenic materials |
Cross-contamination | The contamination of a person or object by another |
Decontamination | To reduce to an irreducible minimum the presence of pathogenic material |
Disinfectant | Chemical agent that kills most microbes, but usually not spores; usually used on inanimate objects because these compounds are too strong to be used on living tissues |
Event-related sterility | Sterility determined by how a package is handled rather than time elapsed; a package is considered sterile until opened or the integrity of packaging material is damaged |
Fomite | Inanimate object that harbors fungus |
Fungicide | Agent that destroys fungus |
Infection | Invasion of the human body or tissue by pathogenic microorganisms that reproduce and multiply, causing disease |
Nosocomial | Infection acquired within a health care facility |
Pathogen | Any microbe capable of causing disease |
Resident flora | Microbes that normally reside below the skin surface or within the body |
Sepsis | Infection, usually accompanied by fever, that results from the presence of pathogenic microorganisms |
Spore | A resistant form of certain types of bacteria that are able to survive in adverse conditions |
Sporicide | Substance that kills/destroys bacteria in the spore stage |
Sterile | Having been rendered free of all living microorganisms, including spores |
Sterile field | Specified area, usually the area immediately around the patient, that is considered free of microorganisms |
Sterile technique | Techniques of creating a sterile field and performing within the sterile field to keep microbes at an irreducible minimum |
Sterilization | The destruction of all microorganisms including spores, on inanimate surfaces through the use of steam or chemical sterilization, electron bombardment, or irradiation |
Strike-through contamination | Contamination of a sterile field that occurs through the passage of fluid through, or a puncture in, a microbial barrier |
Surgically clean | Mechanically cleaned and chemically disinfected, but not sterile |
Terminal disinfection | To render items safe to handle by high-level disinfection |
Terminal sterilization | To render items safe to handle by sterilization |
Transient flora | Microbes that reside on skin surface and are easily removed |
Vector | Living carrier that transmits disease |
Virucide | Agent that destroys viruses |