Skin is a major source of microbial contamination in the surgical environment. The greatest threat in surgery is infection, and it is very important to eradicate the same. Micro-organisms transfer from the hands of health care providers to patients and vice versa. This is an important factor with regard to health-care associated infections (i.e. nosocomial infections). Although the scrubbed members of the surgical team are wearing surgical gloves and gowns, their hands and forearms are to be cleaned properly to reduce the number of microorganisms significantly.
The main functions of surgical hand wash include:
Remove debris,soil, hand lotions, natural skin oils, and transient microorganisms from the hands and forearms of the sterile team members
Keep the numbers of microorganisms on the skin to an irreducible minimum
Reduces the risk of microbial contamination of the surgical wound by microbial florae