Common Clinical Procedures

A clinical procedure is not merely a sequence of hand movements. It is a controlled attempt to change, measure, or access something in a client while limiting infection, pain, wrong-site care, medication error, tissue injury, and loss of clinical information. The experienced nurse begins assessing before opening the equipment. Is the procedure indicated? Is there a valid order when one is required? Is it within the nurse’s authority and current competence? What is the client’s baseline condition, and what finding would make the planned procedure unsafe today? A client who is newly confused, hypotensive, severely dyspnoeic, or unable to protect their airway may need stabilization before a routine procedure proceeds. Asepsis is the thread connecting these decisions. Medical asepsis, or clean technique, reduces the number and spread of microorganisms during routine care. Surgical asepsis, or sterile technique, is used when a procedure enters a normally sterile site or requires a sterile field. A sterile item becomes contaminated when it touches an unsterile surface; a field that falls below waist level, leaves the nurse’s view, becomes wet, or is touched by...