title: Skin blade versus deep blade: a vehicle of contamination in podiatric surgery.
abstract: A total of 166 surgical blades consisting of control blades, skin blades, and deep blades were cultured from 50 elective podiatric surgical cases. Five blades from four cases cultured Staphylococcus epidermidis. The practice of changing from skin blade to deep blade to reduce contamination of a clean surgical wound is not supported by the data obtained in this study.
authors.affiliation: Cambridge Hospital Podiatric Surgical Residency Program.
authors.forename: V B
authors.initials: VB
authors.lastname: Cibella
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Haas
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Green
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Stewart
mesh_terms: D004203:Disinfection; D004866:Equipment Contamination / Q000517:prevention & control*; D004867:Equipment Design; D005528:Foot / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D013525:Surgical Instruments