Maximal Barrier Precautions
(continued)

Sterile Drapes: Place a full body sterile drape on the patient to minimize the movement of microorganisms into the site selected for the catheter insertion procedure. The full body drape is applied to prevent the patient's own organisms or bed organisms from moving into aseptically cleaned areas and to prevent contamination of the catheter or other insertion components prior to insertion into the bloodstream by only allowing it to touch the sterile surface of the full body drape. Once the sterile drape is positioned, do not move or rearrange the drape. Only the top surface of the draped area is considered sterile. Areas where skin is exposed, frequently called a fenestration, should be skin adherent to avoid contamination from un-prepped skin. Exposed skin, regardless of prepping, remains a source of contamination; do not allow the catheter or gloved hands to touch the skin. If a patient accidentally touches an area of the drape, take a sterile towel and cover the contaminated area or re-drape the entire field.

Sterile Field Awareness: As a reminder, all items used within a sterile field must be sterile. Under no circumstances should sterile and non-sterile items/areas be mixed since one contaminates the other. If a package or any item within that package is compromised, it is considered contaminated and is not used in the sterile field.

Certain basic sterility concepts:

• The edges of a sterile field are avoided (approximately 2 inches around a sterile field) with sterile items placed toward the center of the field rather than the edge.
• Items dropped below waist level or behind the operator are considered contaminated. This also applies to gloved hands held down below waist level.
• Items under a sterile drape are considered contaminated.
• Sterile package overwrapping is replaced with a full sterile drape since the overwrap may be torn or contaminated.