Cleaning fetal monitor equipment

[clo883RNC]

Lately on my unit nurses have become lazy about cleaning fetal monitor parts after a delivery. We recently had a very bloody IFM cable rolled and put back in the drawer as if it were clean. It is so nasty. I am so tired of putting a patient in a "clean" room and then have to wipe old gel and pubic hairs off the monitor parts in front of her. I am wanting to start a new process of handing a new bag of monitor parts to each nurse when she gets a new patient. Our current process is the parts all stay in the room and SHOULD be wiped off after each patient an put back in the drawer but this is not happening. I would love some input on a better process, and what you do to clean monitor parts at your various facilities. Thank you

[ashwee356]

Fetal monitor cleaning has always been confusing to me... in the sense that I have also found many dirty ones in "clean" rooms. Nasty! I mean, even used telemetry boxes go into a biohazard bag and are put into a dirty bin to be cleaned. I think you are on the right track with implementing a new process. It would probably work best when cleaning the room and removing other used items, the monitor also gets removed. Then, each clean room is stocked with a clean monitor.. verses having to run back out of the room and grab a clean monitor. Just depends on the size of your unit and number of monitors you have. Think of a process where you don't end up with a pile of dirty monitors, and then peolple are running over and jiffy cleaning it before going back to the patient :)

[GHGoonette, BSN, RN]

Whatever field you are working in, Standard (Universal) Precautions dictate that all re-usable equipment be cleaned after use, and all disposables are discarded appropriately. If this is not being done the staff is grossly negligent. I think it's a good idea to revise policies and it would also be a good idea to get Infection Control behind you to ensure that they are enforced.

[JeneraterRN]

Hey, what's grosser than gross? Cheesy glucometers!

[NurseNora, BSN, RN]

Remember that no one puts dirty equipment away because she is bad or wants to harm someone. We're all human and have a tendency to become lazy and or careless from time to time.

That said, what causes can you see for the problem? Is it happening frequently? mostly when you're busy and rushed? Don't start pointing fingers yet, but are there a couple of people who seem to do this more often than others?

,

Gather some information about the frequency and surrounding circumstances of this problem then go to your nurse manager and make a plan. Bring it up at staff meetings, review your policy and procedures for cleaning monitor parts, take pictures of bloody stuff in the drawers, have lab culture and grow stuff taken from dirty parts (a nasty petri dish is a wonderful reminder to clean stuff), brain storm ideas to solve this problem.

Every department has a different flow and what works one place may not work in another. In my department, we have OB techs who are responsible for cleaning monitors after use. We have hooks on the side of our monitor carts and the cables are coiled and hung on the hooks after cleaning. When coiling the cables to hang, it's hard to not notice smut on them. I think it's easier to throw a dirty cable in a drawer without noticing the dirt than to coil and hang it. If someone does coil and hang a dirty cable, it's more likely to be seen by someone else before you pull it out in front of the patient., That's what works for us.

The most important thing is to make the problem public, and get everyone invested in solving the problem. Good luck