Improving students' knowledge on surgical skin preparation and disinfection to prevent surgical site infection

Surgical site infection is the contamination of the wound that is acquired through a surgical procedure. Surgical Skin Disinfection is crucial when speaking of surgically acquired infection prevention, therefore it is essential for the students to be able to learn how it is done step-by-step. The purpose of the literature review was to research the principles of Surgical Skin Disinfection methods, compare them, and find the most effective procedure patterns, when it comes to the prevention and control of Surgical Site Infections. The thesis work was commissioned by Savonia university of applied science teachers of perioperative course. The findings can be used by nursing students studying in the perioperative nursing course. Databases such as PubMed and Cinahl Ultimate were assessed, and 600 articles were found. After filtering and excluding articles that are irrelevant to our research question, 12 articles have been chosen for review that complied with the criteria. According to the analysis of the literature, was retrieved from the selected articles, four findings that answer the research question were identified: Clipping instead of shaving should be used when removing hair from the incision site, preoperative showers could reduce risk of Surgical Site Infection, chlorhexidine-alcohol as the antiseptic is the most effective, antiseptic should be allowed to dry for it be effec-tive against microorganisms on the skin. The nursing students who are studying on the Perioperative nursing course can benefit from the research by broadening their knowledge on the topic of Surgical Skin Disinfection and using this knowledge during the exams and nursing practice skills test. Furthermore, by expanding their knowledge and revising the topic through our research, students can reduce the risk of inducing SSI in the surgical environment during the internship and future work.