Learn, prepare and step confidently into the operating theatre
Scrubbing in is done just before the surgery begins by anyone coming into direct contact with the patient or instruments involved in the procedure.
This is to ensure that the surgeons, the scrub nurse, or you as medical students are completely sterile and eliminates any chances on infection to the patient.
It is also something that all medical students should be capable of doing by the end of their degree and is a requirement by the GMC.
The quiz will involve questions from this page!
We have decided to use a pre-existing video to show how to scrub-in as they are already outstanding.
Below we have made a mnemonic to help with scrubbing in. Also look at the resources tab for a on-the-go pdf for scrubbing in!
Wear a theatre hat and mask.
Remove rings, watches and ensure scrubs are bare below elbows.
Ask surgeon if you may scrub in.
Open gown & glove packets, avoiding contact with the contents so they remain sterile.
Open scrub brush and pick packet.
Always ask for help if you are unsure!
Turn the water on to a comfortable temperature.
Wet your hands and arms and apply the antimicrobial solution.
Lather and scrub down to elbows, rinsing from hands to elbows (let water flow away).
You can repeat the rinsing, but don’t let water drip up your arm. This can be ensure by keeping hands above elbows.
Use a scrub brush with scrubbing solution on nails. Use a nail pick to clean under fingernails and discard nail pick in the SHARPS box after.
Rinse hands and arms, ensuring water flows down from your hands to elbows.
Keep hands above elbows to avoid backflow contamination and avoid splashing
Apply scrubbing solution and use the 5 strokes method for each motion (back & forth) in each scrubbing step (palm to palm, palm to back, rotational, knuckles, thumb, fingertips circulation on palm).
Repeat 3 times: first down to the elbows, then two-thirds down the forearm and finally down to the wrists only.
Use diagrams on the wall above the sink for guidance.
Rinse appropriately.
Close tap with elbow and keep arms in front of you at at 90 degrees with hands pointing upwards
Use sterile towels from gown pack using one towel per arm.
Blot from fingertips down to the elbows
(no wiping back; don’t drag contamination back to hands).
If the towel or hands touch something unsterile, re-scrub
Pick up a sterile gown, touching only the inside top layer.
Open the gown in open space avoiding any contact with non-sterile surroundings.
Insert arms carefully with hands above the waist, away from the body.
Pull arms in, making sure that the cuffs completely cover the hands and no fingers breach out.
Tie & Secure Gown
Ask an assistant to fasten the gown behind you, holding only inside surface.
Assistant passes tie through the cardboard slip mechanism if present, and you tie bow.
Ensure the gown fits properly and covers correctly. Avoid touching the outside surfaces
Open the glove packet (which you dropped onto the gown earlier).
Use the open glove method: pick a glove by the cuff edge, align it over the sleeve.
Stretch a glove over your hand while protecting sterility.
Repeat for the second glove. Adjust fingers, ensure cuffs cover gown sleeves as they are not liquid proof.
Keep gloved hands sterile (no touching non-sterile surfaces). Hands should stay above the waist and in front