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Discussion

alcohol wipes

This may be a stupid question but I want the right answer to this one. I work in dialysis and we are taught that prior to cannulation, wipe the site with alcohol and cannulate while still wet. This is policy where I work. When reading on this site, I have seen many posts stating that alcohol needs to dry in order to be effective. I thought it was only betadine that needed to dry. I'm hoping that there is someone out there who knows for sure which is correct....

Thanks!

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    • Featured Replies

    In my facility .. the policy is to allow 15 seconds for the alcohol to dry. It is during that 15 seconds that any organisms that are present will die.

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    • Author

    I guess in all honesty it would be pretty difficult to cannulate while still wet if you are just using a wipe since it dries so quickly. Wipe, toss the wrapper, uncap needle, and its pretty much dry I guess. Thanks for your response.

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    This is the number one thing that annoys me the most: when I see nurses that wipe for 1 second, I just want to smack them lol. Hellooooo, it is not a magic wipe, you need friction and wipe for at least 15 sec, it's not so hard. gosh....

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    Friction is the important part. :)

    Alcohol dries very fast- that is why a 70% solution is indicated, because pure alcohol would dry too fast to do the job correctly.

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    • Author

    Thanks for your responses. I get the part about friction, but after that are you to wait for it to dry? I agree about the one line swipe being so annoying though, and how bout when the wipe comes off black and they don't use another one after...ugh!

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    • Expert

    Yes, you are to wait for it to dry as that is when the majority of the anti-microbial action takes place.

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    I would clarify the instruction "while it is still wet". Is that common for placing needles or caths? Seems ouchy!

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