Who taught the importance of sterilizing surgical instruments?
1 Answer
Dr Joseph Lister.
Explanation:
Dr Joseph Lister (after whom the famous brand Listerine is named) was the first to insist on hygienic practices in hospitals and in operating theatres.
Concerned about the high incidence or post-operative infections, often fatal, and reading about Louis Pasteur's experiments in microbiology, he started insisting on using dressings soaked in carbolic acid - a common antiseptic - for wounds and post-operative dressings.
He also made mandatory the practice of handwashing before and between examining patients and before and after surgeries, sterilisation of surgical instruments, and the spraying of carbolic acid in operating theatres, all of which drastically reduced the incidence of nosocomial infections, patient-to-patient cross-infection, and post-operative infections.
