There are no standards or studies about your questions that I
know of. But I do know that many facilities are cleaning the luer-lock
threads of the catheter hub with an alcohol pad before attaching the
new cap or tubing. I teach this in my classes. There can be dried
blood, drug precipitate, skin oils, etc inside those threads. And
there is lots of documentation about the catheter hub being the source
of organisms that create biofilm that then turn into bloodstream
infections. Catheters that have dwelled for longer than a week or so
will have more biofilm on the internal lumen than the external side.
And those threads are not considered to be sterile once they are out
of the initial package. Lynn
At 9:47 PM -0700 8/10/06, Glenn and Dayna Holt wrote:
I have a question for the group. When you change the positive pressure cap on your central line, what technique do you use? Sterile gloves or not? Do you scrub the threads of the hub with alcohol before attaching the new cap or do you not touch the threads of the hub? Does anyone have any standards and/or studies that support a particular technique?
Dayna Holt, RN, CRNI
San Diego
--
Lynn Hadaway, M.Ed., RNC, CRNI
Lynn Hadaway Associates, Inc.
126 Main Street, PO Box 10
Milner, GA 30257
http://www.hadawayassociates.com
office 770-358-7861
Lynn Hadaway Associates, Inc.
126 Main Street, PO Box 10
Milner, GA 30257
http://www.hadawayassociates.com
office 770-358-7861
