The main goal of a patient’s stay at a surgical ward is operative treatment, which requires both physical and psychological preparation, carried out by an interdisciplinary team according to procedures in force. One of the elements of physical preparation is preparation of an operating field, which takes place at the surgical ward as well as at the operating suite. The authors of this work present an outline of the operating field preparation (bath, shaving, disinfection, covering) and point out the risk of surgical site infection occurrence in the case of lack of relevant procedures, including proper preparation of the operating field.