You are assisting the doctor in a procedure. The supply of sterile packs runs ou

Question

You are assisting the doctor in a procedure. The supply of sterile packs runs out in the exam room. The doctor instructs you to go to the supply room and bring back "at least one pack ... Stat", he says so you quickly leave for the supply room. You pick up a pack, turn to go back to the exam room and you drop a sterile pack of gauze on the floor. The inside of the unopened packet is still considered sterile and the Doc is impatient; but the office policy is to resterilze anything that drops on the floor. This is the last sterile packet on the shelf and the physician is with a patient and waiting for it (and for you to hurry up and return). The chances are very slight that any infection would result from using the gauze from this unopened packet.

Explanation / Answer

This is an ethical dilemma, where The nurse has to deter mine if the packet is still studying or not. The packet is still unopened it would mean that any object present inside the would still be sterile. The nurse has to determine if the packet is still sterile or not. The packet is still unopen it would mean that any object present inside the packet would still be sterile. Now the office policy is to resterilise anything that drops on the floor, if the Gauzd itself would have dropped on the floor it would have to be desterilised. Since, the gauze has not come in contact with the outside environment it is still not in the influence of bacteria and hence there will be no chance that the patient would be infected because of an unopen packet of sterile gauze. Hence, the nurse should give the doctor the packet of gauze.

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