Surgery Journals

Contemporary surgical therapy is greatly helped by monitoring devices that are used during surgery and through the postoperative period. Blood pressure and pulse are monitored during an operation because a fall within the former and an increase within the latter give evidence of a critical loss of blood. Other items monitored are the heart contractions as indicated by electrocardiograms; tracings of brain waves recorded by electroencephalograms, which reflect changes in brain function; the oxygen level in arteries and veins; CO2 partial pressure within the circulating blood; and respiratory volume and exchange. Intensive monitoring of the patient usually continues into the critical postoperative stage.Asepsis, the liberty from contamination by pathogenic organisms, requires that each one instruments and dry goods coming in touch with the surgical field be sterilized. This is accomplished by placing the materials in an autoclave, which subjects its contents to a period of steam struggling . Chemical sterilization of some instruments is also used. Sterilized gowns, caps, and masks that filter the team’s exhaled air and sterilized gloves of disposable plastic complete the picture. Thereafter, attention to avoiding contact with nonsterilized objects is the basis of maintaining asepsis