Study for the PMLS History of Medical Technology Test. Explore flashcards and multiple choice questions, each question is accompanied by hints and explanations. Get prepared for your exam!

Multiple Choice

The introduction of aseptic technique in surgery is attributed to which physician?

Aseptic technique in surgery centers on preventing contamination by microbes during the operation. Joseph Lister is credited with introducing antiseptic methods to surgery in the 1860s, using carbolic acid (phenol) to sterilize instruments, wound edges, and the surrounding environment, and promoting sterile dressings and meticulous technique. This approach, grounded in the then-emerging germ theory, led to dramatically lower postoperative infection rates and established the practice we now call aseptic technique. While Ignaz Semmelweis showed the power of handwashing to prevent infections in childbirth, and Louis Pasteur and Robert Koch advanced understanding of microbes, Lister is the physician most closely associated with bringing sterile, infection-preventive methods into the surgical world.

Aseptic technique in surgery centers on preventing contamination by microbes during the operation. Joseph Lister is credited with introducing antiseptic methods to surgery in the 1860s, using carbolic acid (phenol) to sterilize instruments, wound edges, and the surrounding environment, and promoting sterile dressings and meticulous technique. This approach, grounded in the then-emerging germ theory, led to dramatically lower postoperative infection rates and established the practice we now call aseptic technique. While Ignaz Semmelweis showed the power of handwashing to prevent infections in childbirth, and Louis Pasteur and Robert Koch advanced understanding of microbes, Lister is the physician most closely associated with bringing sterile, infection-preventive methods into the surgical world.