mimingsavedbygrace

[mimingsavedbygrace]

Sterile Technique

I recently moved departments at work.  I have been working as a paediatric nurse for more than 5 years here in the UK (more than 10 years in total, including my years in the Philippines) and finally have decided to pursue my old passion of doing theatre nursing.  I was not able to do it before because in the Philippines, where I trained, it is a requirement to have a charge nursing experience first before being able to apply for a job in theatres.  When I had already acquired the qualification, I became too comfortable doing the paediatric wards that I just stayed there until I had the opportunity to go the UK. 

I am now working in eye theatres and although I have been familiar with the sterile technique since I was a student nurse, seeing and practicing it everyday had a new impact on me, professionally and spiritually.

During one of the early days of my operating theatre career, I was amazed and blessed to see some similarities of the practice of sterile technique and Christianity. You see, in the operating theatre, we try to observe the strictest of cleanliness that could be observed in the hospital setting.  We come to work in normal clothes and change to scrubs before going inside the theatre suite.  We nurses, clean and prepare the operating theatres ourselves (apart from the floors which are being done by the domestics).  We wipe everything at the start of the day and at the end of each list.

Before each operation, we scrub our hands and arms thoroughly, observing a particular step-by-step process that we strictly follow to make sure that we don’t introduce any unnecessary cause of infection to the patient.  We grab the sterile gown and put on the sterile gloves in a certain way to make sure that every surface that might be in contact or involve in operating the patient would be sterile.  

Creating a sterile field is very important to be able to successfully and safely help the patients being operated on.  Even one accidental touch on an unsterile surface, however briefly or lightly it would be, could increase the risk of infection to the patient so we would need to change our gloves to new sterile ones.  And not just gloves but any part of the sterile field that gets unsterile, we would have to remove it or change it, which ever applies. All of the theatre staff are very meticulous and vigilant in maintaining the sterility.  Anybody who sees that sterility has been compromised would raise it up may it be nurses or theatre assistants or anybody in the team.  

Being involve in God’s ministry is like scrubbing for a surgery.  We need to be cleansed and be saved to help save others who are still lost.  As human beings brought to a world infected with sin, we are naturally “unsterile”, unrighteous and born with the sinful nature.  That is why to be God’s helping/healing hands, we need to be clothed in Christ’s righteousness like putting on the sterile gown and gloves.  Our uncleanliness are covered and we become clean through Christ’s merits.  Whatever our imperfections in the past would be irrelevant and forgotten because we are forgiven and sanctified. Now we could become more effective ministers to others because we have been saved and purified in Christ.