sterile sheets after THR?

Specialties Orthopaedic

Published

Has anyone ever heard of making a patient's bed with a sterile drape after total hip replacement (so that the patient's dressed incision rests on the drape, rather than the regular sheets)? This is the policy at my current hospital and I am puzzled about where the practice comes from, and have doubts that it serves a purpose.

Specializes in hospice.

How would you even keep it sterile?

You can't, of course--as soon as it hits the bed and the patient, it isn't sterile. Supposedly it minimizes the bacteria exposure to the incision. The bedsheets are changed daily in any case.

Specializes in Critical Care, Med-Surg.

Is there not a dry sterile dressing on the incision anyway? Or am I missing something?

Yes, there is a dry sterile dressing over the incision.

Specializes in Ortho.

Where I work, we don't use dressings on hips

You don't use dressings at all?

I put a new sheet on the bed and the patient gets a new gown. There is no way to keep a bed sheet sterile after surgery.

Specializes in orthopedic/trauma, Informatics, diabetes.

Ours have a foam dressing over the gauze/opsite dsg for POD 0 & 1. Then gauze/opsite. We have one surgeon who leaves knees OTA, but none of the hips are ever OTA. Interesting.

Specializes in my patients.
Has anyone ever heard of making a patient's bed with a sterile drape after total hip replacement (so that the patient's dressed incision rests on the drape, rather than the regular sheets)? This is the policy at my current hospital and I am puzzled about where the practice comes from, and have doubts that it serves a purpose.

Clean sheets? Yes.

Sterile drapes? No.

Sterile anything costs $$$ so what XYZ hospital is doing sounds very expensive to me...

Allie

Specializes in my patients.

Side note...we do (sometimes, depending on the nurse) wrap our hemovac drains in a single Chux...but that's more to prevent mess if the drain falls apart...and the Chux isn't sterile...

Allie

Specializes in Ortho.
You don't use dressings at all?

Only use dressings if it's draining. Our surgeon sutures and them skin glue protectant, no staples either. Btw, we do some same day hips, but most leave POD1, knees leave POD2. Surgeon uses minimally invasive technique.

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