Aseptic Non-Touch Technique (ANTT)

Aseptic None Touch Technique, or ANTT, may be used as part of several clinical skills or procedures. The intention of ANTT is to maintain asepsis and to avoid contamination of a wound or patient body area. ANTT would be used when changing a wound dressing for example, to avoid introducing infection into the wound, or when inserting a catheter, to prevent the introduction of infection into the urinary tract. ANTT is not normally a standalone procedure on its own, but will usually be performed or required as part of another skill. 

Read the illustrated guide to Aseptic None Touch Technique on ClinicalSkills.net here (this looks at ANTT in the context of changing a wound dressing, but as noted previously the general principles of ANTT will be required for many procedures): 

You will need to be logged into ClinicalSkills.net to use these pages: Go to ClinicalSkills.net, click login at the top, enter your user name and password. You must have set up your account to do this. For further information on how to login to your ClinicalSkills.net account please click here: How to Login to ClinicalSkills.net

Aseptic None Touch Technique - Principles 

There is also a useful guide to how the principles of ANTT might be adhered to in a community setting, where the general environment will be less sterile:

Aseptic Technique in the Community 

Click on the button below to navigate to the 'Take a Test' area of ClinicalSkills.net. Please make sure you're logged into ClinicalSkills.net already, otherwise you may not be able to open and take the test. Once you have reached the 'Take a Test' area, select 'Local Tests' and then click on the test called 'Aseptic Technique Principles (including wound dressing change)' to begin. You will need to score 80% or more to pass. Make sure you've read the ClinicalSkills.net procedure thoroughly before taking the test as many of the answers will be found within there!

NHS England- Healthcare associated infections

This covers reducing the risk of healthcare associated infections by using the toolkits and guidance. 

https://www.england.nhs.uk/patient-safety/healthcare-associated-infections/

Healthcare associated infections: prevention and control in primary and community care

This guideline covers preventing and controlling healthcare-associated infections in children, young people and adults in primary and community care settings. It provides a blueprint for the infection prevention and control precautions that should be applied by everyone involved in delivering NHS care and treatment.

https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/CG139 

Royal Marsden Clinical Nursing Procedures (9th Edition) : Page xcix - cx

ProQuest Ebook Central - Reader 

Royal College of Nursing: Understanding Aseptic Technique

This publication is an RCN investigation into clinical views to guide the practice of aseptic technique 

www.rcn.org.uk/professional-development/publications/pub-007928 

ANTT - the international standard for safe aseptic technique

This the official website for ANTT - The Association for Safe Aseptic Practice provides this site to support practitioners, healthcare organisations, industry and patients in the education and clinical practice of ANTT®, the world’s most commonly used aseptic technique.

https://www.antt.org/ 

Date reviewed: November 2022

Next review: November 2023