Preventing infections isn't as simple as the Bactine and Band-Aids Mom used when you fell off your bike and came up with a scraped knee or a bleeding elbow.

But really, she wasn't all that far off. Without thinking too much about it, Mom knew the basic principles: Keep the prone areas clean and covered.

In the surgical setting, what you do entails more rules and flashier technology (and doesn't include the make-it-better kiss), but you can break down everything you do into those two categories. Clean: You sterilize instruments, mop OR floors and irrigate wounds. And covered: You don gloves and drape patients.

These things are common sense, and to you, it goes without saying that they would be done.

Case in point: When we walked into the Surgery Center of Limerick in Limerick, Pa., our goal was to capture infection control in action. We asked Deb Plank Sterkenberg, MS, RN, the clinical nurse manager, and her staff to show us what they do to safeguard themselves, protect the patients and prepare the environment.

In short, we wanted to capture the routine that you perform dozens of times each day, day in and day out.

The surgical team jumped into action. They showed us how pre-operative antibiotics are administered, how to perform a thorough surgical scrub, and how to flush and brush the many channels of a flexible endoscope.

What we saw amazed us, not just in the number of precautions they took at each stage of the surgical process, but also the lockstep precision with which they carried out every task.

It's part instinct based on common sense, part knowledge based on training. Mom provided you with the former, we're here to help out with the latter.

We took the complicated, technical details of the cleaning and covering - and present them as common-sense, practical ways to meet ever-stricter infection control guidelines and protocols.

A few examples:

• a side-by-side comparison of the options in the sometimes-confusing world of alcohol-based surgical rubs (page 7),
• a step-by-step guide to a prophylactic wound-closure protocol that costs just a few extra minutes and really works (page 32), and
• what you need to know to track and manage infections (page 61).

Everything is targeted at simplicity, speed and efficacy. Think of this, the Fourth Annual Manager's Guide to Infection Control, as your no-nonsense manual to infection prevention.