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S U R G I C A L
S K I N
A N T I S E P S I S
resistant organisms, so consistently review commercially available preps to
ensure your SSI reduction efforts remain current. OSM
Ms. Butler (sbutler@stanfordmed.org) is a clinical nurse IV and the chairperson of the
perioperative research council at Stanford University Hospital and Clinics in Stanford,
Calif.
AT-HOME PREPPING
3 Tips for Reinforcing CHG Wipe Use
A
in the 2 days leading up to
surgery, and that they
s part of our change in surgi-
don't use them above the neck or on
cal skin prepping, we also
any exposed membranes (female geni-
began giving all patients
talia, for example).
chlorhexidine-gluconate-impregnated
2. Don't use the 4% product for
wipes to use at home before the day of
patients who aren't high-risk. We start-
surgery. Current literature doesn't yet
ed giving those to patients, then discov-
show efficacy specific to these wipes,
ered that doing so required a physician
but we know that CHG has lasting effec- order. So we dropped back to the 2%
tiveness, and it can't hurt. Here are
formulation, which the nurses could
some tips for integrating take-home
hand out without orders or complication.
CHG wipes into your skin-prepping pro-
We use the 4% only for select cases.
3. Add the issuing and use of CHG
tocols.
1. Ensure that surgeons educate
wipes to the nursing documentation. On
patients in the pre-op clinic about the
the surgical day, pre-op nurses should
importance of using the wipes
ask patients, "Did you use this product
once a
day
twice before you came to the hospital?"
Infection control administrators can
then track compliance and whether
usage correlates to SSI rates.
— Sharon L. Butler, MSN, RN
M O N T H 2014 | S U P P L E M E N T
TO
O U T PAT I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E O N L I N E
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