Why should surgeons hold their hands higher than their elbows during scrubbing?

to make sure they disinfect their hands and arms prior to cutting on u and causing u infection. WHen they hold them higher, the soap and germs run down there arms, releasing the germs into the sinkWhy should surgeons hold their hands higher than their elbows during scrubbing?
scrubbing is of utmost importance to a surgeon, as it renders their hands free of any microorganisms before cutting open somebody.after scrubbing, they hold their hands up high above the elbows so that the ';dirty'; water from their hands drip down towards the elbow, not vice versa.if they hold their hands lower than the elbows, ';dirty'; water will drip down to their hands, thereby ';contaminating'; their hands again.the same holds true for nurses who will be with the surgeon during the operation.Why should surgeons hold their hands higher than their elbows during scrubbing?
Interesting question...can't wait to see if there is some cooler answer.





First, makes sure that liquids don't stay 'on the hands', after the fingers are scrubed anything that gets on the arm beyond where you scrub to could run down to the hand unless you've got gravity on your side. So it prevents the hands from getting de-sanitized.





Second, it helps you keep an eye on them. Hands up, almost cradled to the chest is a good way to prevent them from coming into contact with anything accidentally. So as you proceed from scrub to surgery you don't touch anything that isn't sanitized.
Simple, you don't want water dripping from the elbows (still not disinfected) onto your disinfected hands.
It's one of the general principles of asepsis: after the surgeon washes his/her hands, the hands are clean but not the wrists and the forearms. Therefore to maintain asepsis the hands must be held up to prevent contamination.
The reason is after they wash their hands the water will drip from it. Since they are now scrubbed, the hands up to the elbow is now considered surgically clean. The water from the elbow should not drip towards the hands and if this happens you just have breached the scrubbing principle and now u are considered unsterile. The surgeon has to hold his hands up high so the the water from the hands will drip down and not the other way around.