What is the first step in prepping a patient for surgery, according to the listed steps?

What is the first step in prepping a patient for surgery, according to the listed steps?

• A. Catheter
• B. Prep
• C. Draping
• D. Sterilization

Answer: (A)

The first step is catheter placement. Doing this early provides reliable urine drainage and monitoring during the procedure, and it helps keep the patient’s position stable and the operative field uncontaminated as you move on to skin prep. Once the catheter is in place, you proceed with cleansing the skin (the prep), then apply sterile drapes to create a sterile field, and finally address sterilization of instruments and the prep area. The other steps are focused on skin antisepsis or field setup, which come after establishing drainage and stability.

The first step is catheter placement. Doing this early provides reliable urine drainage and monitoring during the procedure, and it helps keep the patient’s position stable and the operative field uncontaminated as you move on to skin prep. Once the catheter is in place, you proceed with cleansing the skin (the prep), then apply sterile drapes to create a sterile field, and finally address sterilization of instruments and the prep area. The other steps are focused on skin antisepsis or field setup, which come after establishing drainage and stability.