What is a Clean Blue Towel?

Clean blue towels are a staple in any operating room - anyone who ever worked in an OR knows. They function to dry your hands, create a sterile field, bump up extremities, wipe the floor or dust your house.

A neatly folded stack of sterile blue towels sits on the back table in every OR - necessarily - surgery can be messy.

Considering its utility, in my OR, the clean blue towel has an ultimate function. Near the end of a case, on a leg for example, the surgical site has been thoroughly irrigated and carefully sutured. Sterile drapes, once pristine, now appear drenched and stained with the evidence of my work. The story of the operation nears its end. I lift the reconstructed extremity and ask for a “clean blue towel.” The surgical tech deftly places fresh sterile blue towels over the soiled drapes and I gently lower the patient’s leg to the table. The field is restored. It is clean and my work is complete - the desired outcome achieved.