Preview

Antiseptics

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
701 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Antiseptics
Antiseptics
Definition
An antiseptic is a substance which inhibits the growth and development of microorganisms. For practical purposes, antiseptics are routinely thought of as topical agents, for application to skin, mucous membranes, and inanimate objects, although a formal definition includes agents which are used internally, such as the urinary tract antiseptics.
Purpose
Antiseptics are a diverse class of drugs which are applied to skin surfaces or mucous membranes for their anti-infective effects. This may be either bacteriocidal or bacteriostatic. Their uses include cleansing of skin and wound surfaces after injury, preparation of skin surfaces prior to injections or surgical procedures, and routine disinfection of the oral cavity as part of a program of oral hygiene. Antiseptics are also used for disinfection of inanimate objects, including instruments and furniture surfaces.
Commonly used antiseptics for skin cleaning include benzalkonium chloride, chlorhexidine, hexachlorophine, iodine compounds, mercury compounds, alcohol and hydrogen peroxide. Other agents which have been used for this purpose, but have largely been supplanted by more effective or safer agents, include boric acid and volatile oils such as methyl salicylate (oil of wintergreen.)
Chlorhexidine shows a high margin of safety when applied to mucous membranes, and has been used in oral rinses and preoperative total body washes.
Benzalkonium chloride and hexachlorophine are used primarily as hand scrubs or face washes. Benzalkonium may also find application is a disinfecting agent for instruments, and in low concentration as a preservative for drugs including ophthalmic solutions. Benzalkonium chloride is inactivated by organic compounds, including soap, and must not be applied to areas which have not been fully rinsed.
Iodine compounds include tincture of iodine and povidone iodine compounds. Iodine compounds have the broadest spectrum of all topical anti-infectives, with action

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Powerful Essays

    Nr224 Final Exam Blue Print

    • 6692 Words
    • 27 Pages

    Medical asepsis, or clean technique, includes procedures for reducing the number of organisms present and preventing the transfer of organisms. Hand hygiene, barrier…

    • 6692 Words
    • 27 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Unit 412

    • 2573 Words
    • 11 Pages

    Disinfection can be carried out by either thermal or chemical processes. Thermal disinfection is preferred whenever possible. It is generally more reliable than chemical processes, leaves no residues, is more easily controlled and is non-toxic.…

    • 2573 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The products that should be used for hand washing are soap (preferably from a dispenser to avoid cross contamination) and water. Alcohol based hand gel. Antiseptic hand gel.…

    • 421 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Unit 031

    • 788 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Cleaning can be used in low risk items which are in contact with intact skin and items which are not in direct contact with the patient’s for example wash bowls and pillows which are covered by pillow cases.…

    • 788 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Ebt1 Task 3

    • 1325 Words
    • 6 Pages

    A primary concern is post-operative infection. This is one of the most common complications of surgery and can have serious implications. Since post-operative infections account for one third of all nosocomial infections nationwide, this is an important issue to address. I believe that focusing on better ways to prevent possible post-operative infection would greatly improve surgical patients’ outcomes and experiences. As the procedure states now, the patient is required to take a shower/bath with normal bath soap excluding any lotions or powders prior to surgery and then once in the surgical site, is cleansed with Hibiclens and an intravenous antibiotic is initiated. This has been standard practice because past research suggested that as long as the patient bathed with normal soap and the site was scrubbed in surgery, post-operative infection has a decreased incidence. While this has proven to drastically reduce infection rate, there are more recent studies that have proven that bathing with normal soap alone is not sufficient enough to prevent a notable amount of nosocomial infections. Hibiclens is a prescription antimicrobial antiseptic skin cleanser used to cleanse a surgical site. It is an effective product; however, I have found that there are still post-operative infections occurring. For this reason, I decided to analyze the pre-operative procedure of surgical site…

    • 1325 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    MICRO BIOLOGY

    • 1277 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Disinfectants are agents that destroy many of the components of the micro-organism at once. These disinfectant agents are composed of many different ingredients such as sterile water and surfactants. The disinfectants will be used against both gram negative and gram positive bacteria. And data will be collected as to how much the disinfectant can reduce the count of the bacterial organism with a contact time of five minutes. We will judge whether this specific disinfectant can prevent bacteria from spreading.…

    • 1277 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Unit 4222 616

    • 1668 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Antibiotic - To treat infection. Can be specific or broad spectrum. Amoxicillin. Penicillin. Oxycycline. Trimethoprim.…

    • 1668 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Joseph Lister. Reducing microbes in a medical setting by disinfecting hands and air with strong antiseptic chemicals such as phenol prior to surgery.…

    • 277 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Health and Saftey

    • 1654 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Cleaning solvents must be used according to Health and Safety and/or COSHH regulations. The person using the substance has a duty to the safety of themselves and anyone in close proximity, and must use it as per the manufacturer’s instructions, or request assistance from a senior staff member if not. The same applies for any machinery that must be used, or moved for the purposes of housekeeping, i.e. lifting equipment.…

    • 1654 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Antiseptics are applied to the skin to reduce the possibility of infection. Common antiseptics include rubbing alcohol, boric acid, hydrogen peroxide and…

    • 1302 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Consequently, the current policy of hand washing requires an adaption which must be based on current research. The importance of skin care Despite large amounts of such studies which confirm that alcohol based hand desinfectants achieve higher results in terms of infection prevention, a general sceptic is often notable, as well as common misbelieves. Most nurses still believe that alcohol-based hand rubs damage their skin more than hand-washing. However, alcohol-based preparations are much kinder to the skin than hand-washing agents because they are less harmful to the cutaneous barrier (as measured by transepidermal water loss) and dry the skin out less. Interestingly, the application of alcohols after hand washing can even reduce the irritation caused by the washing, probably by elimination of residual detergent monomers. (1) In a French study where1932 assessments were collected showed that traditional hand washing was a risk factor for dryness or irritation, while alcohol-based hand rubs caused no skin deterioration and had a protective effect even when used intensively.…

    • 1878 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Antimicrobial Lab Report

    • 1105 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Chemical methods of control: Antimicrobial drugs, involves the use of chemicals to prevent and treat infectious diseases. Pasteur and others observed that infecting an animal with Pseudomonas aeruginosa protected the animal against Bacillus anthracis. Later, the word “antibiosis” (against life) for this inhibition and called the inhibiting substance “Antibiotic”. As researchers found out more and more about these chemicals they were able to discover that antibiotics are chemicals or natural substances such as bacteria, fungi, as well as synthetic drugs; that inhibit or kill microbes in small amounts. Chemotherapeutic agents are antimicrobial chemicals (natural or synthetic) that can be used internally or may be absorbed. The purpose of antimicrobial drugs is either to inhibit virus replication, without harming host tissues or to interrupt the cell processes or structures of bacteria, fungi, and protozoa. This lab has brought great interest to me because this is the way physicians’ control/treat infectious disease within our bodies.…

    • 1105 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Amebicides treat a disease called amebiasis; amebiasis is an intestinal illness that is commonly caught when someone eats or drinks something that is contaminated with a very small microscopic parasite called _Entamoeba histolytica_. The parasite is something called an amoeba, what this means is that it is a single-celled organism, and that is how the name came along.…

    • 6493 Words
    • 27 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Chasing zero

    • 430 Words
    • 2 Pages

    In theory, preventing infections in health care facilities is easy, while in reality, it is difficult to get people to wash their hands properly. There are many ways to help in preventing the spread of infections in hospitals, clinics, and communities. Most importantly, safety measures or standard precautions must be used with all patients at all times. These safety measures may include hand hygiene, respiratory hygiene, and wearing protective clothes. Following these standard precautions would help greatly in stopping the spread of germs from one person to another.…

    • 430 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Antibiotics:- antibiotics are medication which destroy or slow down the growth of bacteria, they are used to treat infections which are caused by bacteria. Most of the time the body’s immune system can fight off bacteria but in cases in which the body cannot antibiotics are used to destroy them. Antibiotics are either given orally, applied to the skin in ointment form or injected, this all depends on the type of infection the body is currently trying to fight off, for example skin infections are treated with ointment, oral antibiotics are used to fight of moderate infections and injective antibiotics are most commonly used in the hospitals and are reserved for serious infections.…

    • 3026 Words
    • 13 Pages
    Powerful Essays

Related Topics