Infection control problems using single use vials?

I've never swabbed a just opened vial. If I was to draw it up again...yes I would swab.
Can't wait to hear the responses.

indeed, this applys to any 'flip" top vial.....and your observation is the reason....the rubber stopper is NOT sealed from outside air....if you need further back up , try the manufacturers

I swab everything before I draw up a med. Just a habit I got into many years ago. You are right though, many of my co workers don't swab a new vial. It makes me feel better, I do it! Of course I see co workers who don't swab the heplocks or the port on the IV tubing either!

I figure its never "crazy" to be too careful! =)

How much time are you wasting? I say clean the top off with alcohol and be done with it. I would rather error on the side of caution.

Your IV Educator is 100 percent correct. All flip tops should be considered a dust cover and should be scrubbed with alcohol or the chlorhexadine (if that is what you are using) before use and that includes first time use. I will try to find you a reference,but I know this for a fact.

When in doubt, and the manufacturer can't tell you, look for research instead of forum opinions. The very first google page yielded all this:

"CONCLUSIONS. This study shows the lack of necessity of any disinfection procedure on the rubber stopper of single-dose vials and the efficacy of alcohol only for disinfecting the stopper of multiple-dose vials."
Defining unnecessary disinfection procedures for single-dose and multiple-dose vials. Am J Crit Care. 1994 Nov;3(6):448-51.
from
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7...ubmed_RVDocSum


And just for aiding your argument, articles about whether to disinfect multi-dose vials:

" At our hospital, we cultured 1,223 weekly samples from 863 MDV in-use over a three-month period. Medications included xylocaine, insulin, heparin, immunizations, and miscellaneous agents. None of the samples was culture-positive. "
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6562087

"Our results showed that bacterial contamination of multidose injectable vials was not a significant hazard"
http://jcm.asm.org/cgi/reprint/17/2/377.pdf

"The authors collected weekly samples from 351 in-use MDV for seven consecutive weeks ... No vial yielded bacteria."
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3994029?ordinalpos=1&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.P ubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DiscoveryPanel.Pu bmed_Discovery_RA&linkpos=4&log$=relatedarticles&l ogdbfrom=pubmed


Counterviews:

"In light of a possible high risk in this [1300-bed] hospital of about 1 contaminated MDV per day, and in view of many reported outbreaks induced by contaminated MDVs, the following infection control measures were encouraged: alcohol hand hygiene, the disinfection of gums [rubber], ..."
Am J Infect Control. 2004 Feb;32(1):12-6.

"A proportion of 4% of [96] vials was not sterile [after 4 months]."
Wien Med Wochenschr. 2007;157(15-16):398-401.