BACTERIOLOGY IN A NUTSHELL. 
Responsibility 
of the Nurse. 
Precautions 
Used. 
Soak Hands 
and Arms. 
III. —If the skin of the patient has not been 
made aseptic prior to the operation. No matter 
how cleanly a person may .be, the skin, the hair 
follicles, and sweat glands all harbor bacteria, 
and if not properly attended to these may invade 
the wound. (Ordinary cleanliness is not “surgi¬ 
cal cleanliness.”) 
IV. —The hands of the surgeon or nurse may 
cause the trouble. 
V. —Instruments, drainage, the clothing of pa¬ 
tient, or operator or nurse, ligatures, sutures, 
sponges, dressings, towels, any of which may be 
infected. The nurse’s duty is to guard against 
danger of infection from whatever source. 
DISINFECTION AND DISINFECTANTS. 
No. i. Hand Disinfection. —Method used 
by Dr. E. Gustave Zinke, chief of staff and 
surgeon the German Hospital, Cincinnati, O., 
in disinfecting the hands. First, cleanse the 
hands (including the arms above the elbows) 
with plenty of antiseptic soap and hot 
water, using a sterile brush vigorously for 
ten minutes, especially for the nails, be¬ 
neath which germs lurk. Second, clean the 
nails thoroughly with a nail knife or file, to 
remove any bacteria the nail brush may have left 
behind. Third, wash the hands again, as the 
nail cleaning process may have deposited par¬ 
ticles of dirt containing germs on the hands. 
Fourth, soak the hands and arms for several 
minutes (2 to 3) in a solution containing about 
twenty grains potassium permanganate to each 
pint of water, and then in another solution of 
oxalic acid (saturated solution), soaking the 
hands for the same length of time. The po- 
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