What must be done to instruments before surgery?

Prior to surgery, it is critical to ensure that all surgical instruments are counted. This process is essential for maintaining patient safety and preventing retained surgical items. The counting procedure involves tallying instruments as they are set up in the sterile field and again after the procedure, ensuring that none are inadvertently left inside the patient after closure. This counting protocol is a standard practice in the surgical environment to minimize the risk of complications related to retained foreign objects.

While disinfecting instruments is an important step in the overall sterilization process, it typically occurs prior to the instruments being made available for use in the operating room. Similarly, marking instruments is not a standard preparation step, and heating is not a practice related to surgical instrument preparation. Thus, counting instruments stands out as a crucial step explicitly required to ensure safety and accountability in surgical practice.