Transducer Disinfection for Evaluation and Insertion of Peripheral and Central Catheters for Vascular Access Teams and Clinicians

Disinfection, sterilization and antisepsis: An overview

BACKGROUND

Each year in the United States there are approximately 100,000,000 outpatient/inpatient surgical procedures. Each of these procedures involves contact by a medical device or surgical instrument with a patient's sterile tissue and/or mucous membrane. A major risk of all such procedures is the introduction of infection.

METHODS

We searched published literature for articles on the use and effectiveness of disinfectants, sterilization methods and antiseptics.

RESULTS

The level of disinfection is dependent on the intended use of the object: critical (items that contact sterile tissue such as surgical instruments), semicritical (items that contact mucous membrane such as endoscopes), and noncritical (devices that contact only intact skin such as stethoscopes) items require sterilization, high-level disinfection and low-level disinfection, respectively. Cleaning must always precede high-level disinfection and sterilization. Antiseptics are essential to infection prevention as part of a hand hygiene program as well as other uses such as surgical hand antisepsis and pre-operative patient skin preparation.

CONCLUSIONS

When properly used, disinfection and sterilization can ensure the safe use of invasive and non-invasive medical devices. Cleaning should always precede high-level disinfection and sterilization. Strict adherence to current disinfection and sterilization guidelines is essential to prevent patient infections and exposures to infectious agents.

Survey of ultrasound-guided peripheral intravenous practices: a report of supply usage and variability between clinical roles and departments

BACKGROUND

The purpose of this study was to investigate ultrasound-guided peripheral intravenous (UGPIV) supply usage practices by clinicians working in vascular access, in emergency departments (EDs), or in other roles.

METHODOLOGY

In 2019, a voluntary cross-sectional descriptive survey was conducted via SurveyMonkey. Data collected included demographics, practice-oriented information, procedural activities, and supplies used for UGPIV insertions. Frequency distributions and results of Fisher's exact test and one-way analysis of variance were reported using R v.3.5.2.

RESULTS

A total of 26,649 surveys were distributed with a response rate of 5.5% (n = 1475). Forty-eight percent of respondents (n = 709) indicated that they worked in a vascular access role, 310 (21%) worked in an ED, and 455 (31%) categorized their role as other. Clinically meaningful differences existed in all variables for UGPIV procedures and supplies between departments (P < 0.0001) and in all care settings. Using an investigatorconstructed overall metric of supplies used, important differences were demonstrated between personnel supply use in vascular access roles and other roles (P < 0.0001) and personnel in EDs and other roles (P < 0.0001).

CONCLUSIONS

Use of supplies for UGPIV insertions varies by department. The variability in supply usage for UGPIV insertions revealed by this survey suggests a need for clinical education on guideline application and evaluation of compliance with policies to promote standardization of supplies for UGPIV insertion.