Chapter 11: Table of Contents
Create a ‘dirty’ field which contains the instruments you plan to use for gastrointestinal surgery. I use a paper provided with my kit or the plastic wrapping provided with laparotomy sponges as my ‘dirty’ field. Alternatively, identify a section of your instrument table as ‘dirty’. I typically dedicate a blade, a pair of thumb forceps (I like Debakey’s), a pair of Metzembaum scissors, a needle holder, a pair of suture scissors and typically an Allis tissue forceps or other instrument to retrieve the foreign material when performing foreign body surgery. Those instruments, your suction tip, and your gloves, should be discarded and changed once the gastrointestinal tract is closed and before abdominal closure.