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O U T P AT 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 | O C T O B E R 2 0 1 5
I D E A S T H A T W O R K
Y
ou'll find little
digital timers all
around my sur-
gery center: around the
PACU beds, on the back
tables and on whatever
surfaces we disinfect.
They ensure that we let
skin preps dry before we
drape and that surface
disinfectants stay visibly
wet for the contact time
listed on the label. For
both, it's usually a minimum of 3 minutes.
• Surface disinfection. When disinfecting a surface such as the OR bed
or back tables, check with your disinfectant label to see what the rec-
ommended contact times are in your state, as some states require dif-
ferent labeling for products. Know what each solution does and how
long it needs to remain visibly wet to work.
• Skin preps. The same goes for your skin prep solutions. Read the
label. You'll see that most preps state that the solution needs to com-
pletely dry before draping, usually a minimum of 3 minutes. Draping
sooner than that minimizes the effectiveness of the prep and risks OR
fires from not having a dry prep.
Our solution: We bought inexpensive timers for every area we disin-
fect, and one for each OR. We pre-set them for the required kill-time
for our disinfectants and for 3 minutes for skin preps. Once the prep
is completed, we start the timer and document in our nursing notes
D R Y T I M E C O U N T D O W N
Let Surface Disinfectants and Skin Preps Dry
z PERFECT TIMING Digital
timers ensure disinfectants and
preps have time to dry.
Thomas
Durick,
MD