Operating room staff must wear sterile attire (scrubs, a scrub cap, a sterile surgical gown, sterile latex or non-latex polymer gloves and a surgical mask), and they must scrub hands and arms with an approved disinfectant agent before each procedure. Preoperative care
Prior to surgery, the person is given a medical examination, receives certain pre-operative tests, and their physical status is rated according to the ASA physical status classification system. If these results are satisfactory, the person requiring surgery signs a consent form and is given a surgical clearance. If the procedure is expected to result in significant blood loss, an autologous blood donation may be made some weeks prior to surgery. If the surgery involves the digestive system, the person requiring surgery may be instructed to perform a bowel prep by drinking a solution of polyethylene glycol the night before the procedure. People preparing for surgery are also instructed to abstain from food or drink (an NPO order after midnight on the night before the procedure), to minimize the effect of stomach contents on pre-operative medications and reduce the risk of aspiration if the person vomits during or after the procedure. Some medical systems have a practice of routinely performing chest x-rays before surgery. The premise behind this practice is that the physician might discover some unknown medical condition which would complicate the surgery, and that upon discovering this with the chest x-ray, the physician would adapt the surgery practice accordingly.
A randomised control trial of misoprostol use found a 38% reduction in maternal deaths due to post partum haemorrhage in resource-poor communities. Misoprostol is recommended due to its cost, effectiveness, stability, and low rate of side effects. Oxytocin must also be given by injection, while misprostol can be given orally or rectally for this use, making it much more useful in areas where nurses and physicians are less available. Insertion of intrauterine contraceptive device
In women with prior caesarean section or prior failure of insertion of an intrauterine contraceptive device, pre-procedure administration of misoprostol reduces the rate of failure of insertion of intrauterine contraceptive device. However, due to a higher rate of adverse effects, routine use of misoprostol for this purpose in other women is not supported by the data. Other
For cervical ripening in advance of endometrial biopsy to reduce the need for use of a tenaculum or cervical dilator.There is limited evidence supporting the use of misoprostol for the treatment of trigeminal neuralgia in patients with multiple sclerosis. Adverse effects
The most commonly reported adverse effect of taking misoprostol by mouth for the prevention of stomach ulcers is diarrhea.