The Association of Operating Room Nurses (AORN) has developed and published a guideline for achieving skin preparation of the surgical site. The policies and procedures, according to AORN, are intended to be achievable recommendations representing what is believed to be an optimal level of practice. The recommended practices include: assess the patient's surgical site; remove hair according to the physicians' orders or policies and procedures in the practice setting; clean the surgical site and surrounding areas; and when indicated, the surgical site and surrounding area should be prepared with antiseptic cream. For the complete list as well as more detailed information visit www.aorn.org.
