Scrub the Hub

[ManNurseBear]

So last night I was doing my standard shift routine and I was getting ready for blood draws. They all went well except on one blood draw I forgot to scrub the hub of the CVC before I accessed it. I didn't realize that I did it until I was more than half way done with all of my vials I needed. I felt so stupid because that is such a simple thing to forget and I feel really guilty... But, my question is, how probable is it that the patient will get sick?

[calivianya, BSN, RN]

We have little servers in all of our rooms with alcohol swabs in them. There is really no excuse not to scrub a hub on my unit because the swabs are right there in the room with you - there is no "forgetting" to bring in a swab or something like that. I don't condemn anyone for not doing a full however long we are supposed to scrub now... but seriously, you can at least do a quick wipe before anything. A really quick wipe might take two seconds. Two seconds is not going to kill the patient, even if the patient is coding. It is just such a simple thing to do, it takes almost no effort at all, and it really should be ingrained in a nurse's mind as part of the procedure for accessing a line. I like the analogy about the person forgetting to pull their pants down before going to the bathroom. I think that's a pretty accurate comparison.

[richardgecko]

This thread made me go out of my way to make sure I scrubbed the hub & flushed twice.

I don't recall forgetting but thanks, guys

[SubSippi]

As for "everyone" forgetting to scrub every once in a while, that's just not true. Of course I've made my share of mistakes on the floor, but I can say confidently that forgetting to scrub the hub has not been one of them. To me it would be like forgetting to pull down my pants before going to the bathroom, it's just an ingrained part of the routine.

I never forget to pull down my pants BUT I have forgotten to flush the toilet before. Either that, or someone breaks into my house to use the bathroom occasionally. ?

[blondy2061h, MSN, RN]

Either that, or someone breaks into my house to use the bathroom occasionally. 

This is probably the case. I can't imagine you'd forget to flush!