ABSTRACT
Skin antisepsis practices are based on sound theoretical principles of infection prevention, but are also fraught with ritual. A review of the biomedical literature through February 1994 was conducted to examine evidence of a causal association between risk of infection and three aspects of preoperative skin preparation: preoperative whole body patient bathing, preoperative patient skin preparation of the operative site, and the hand scrub of the surgical team. This chapter summarizes and evaluates the research relating preoperative skin preparation practices with infection rates.
