How do medical asepsis and surgical asepsis differ?

• A. Medical asepsis eliminates all microorganisms using sterile technique
• B. Medical asepsis uses sterile technique for all tasks
• C. Medical asepsis reduces the number of microorganisms through cleaning and hand hygiene, while surgical asepsis aims to eliminate all microorganisms using sterile technique
• D. Surgical asepsis is the same as medical asepsis

Answer: (C)

Medical asepsis reduces microorganisms through cleaning, disinfection, and careful hand hygiene, and is used for routine, noninvasive care to lower infection risk. Surgical asepsis aims to eliminate all microorganisms by using sterile technique and maintaining a sterile field for procedures that invade sterile body areas. In practice, medical asepsis keeps things sanitary during daily care, while surgical asepsis provides a completely sterile environment for invasive procedures, using sterile gloves, sterile instruments, and sterile fields. For example, washing hands and cleaning surfaces are medical asepsis; setting up a sterile tray and dressing an open wound with sterile gloves and instruments is surgical asepsis.