Cleaning of soothers? NCPAP masks?

[EvidenceBased_Hippy]

I wanted to pick some brains. What does your unit do around the cleaning of soothers? My unit doesn't have a particular policy or unwritten rule around the cleaning of, or periodic disposal of, soothers. Some co-workers have said they drop on the floor and get replaced often enough that we shouldn't really need to clean them unless they're visibly soiled. But they roll around in the isolette so much, and we use them frequently during auscaltation, feeds, or procedures... they're in a warm moist environment, right?

Same goes with our NCPAP masks. We have a prong style and a nasal mask style that we alternated every 4 hours. The one not being used is kept in a (once) sterile pink-top container, often in the isolette. Again, wet and warm. Our respiratory therapists aren't aware of any policies around cleaning them either. Despite many other policies to mitigate infections associated with respiratory assistance.

What are your thoughts? Should I start doing some research and advocate for a new policy on either?

Thanks people, your input is greatly appreciated.

[CryandNurseOn]

We don't sterilize soothers....if they get dropped we chuck them other than that they sit. It would be interesting to see what they grow. I'm surprised we don't have to replace them on a certain schedule.

Our CPAP interfaces we clean with chlorhexidine soak, scrub with a q-tip, sterile water soak and then put in a sterile container.

[TiffyRN, BSN, PhD]

Sounds like an excellent PICO question or poster, that's what my manager would say.

[aerorunner80, ADN, BSN, MSN, APRN]

When in doubt, toss it out. If it touches the floor, toss it. If it's used with SweetEase, toss it (high high risk of thrush).

[love&loss]

We throw all of ours out once a week. It also goes without saying that if it's dropped or visibly soiled, we replace it. But I think it's every Sunday night, everyone gets a new soother!

[Devinenursem13]

In our NICU we use the Medela sterilizer bags (other companies make them as well) we sterilize bottles, breast pump parts, nipple shields, etc and when I do a sterilization I throw the paci's in there as well. We don't have any set schedule unfortunately, just when we think about it - but seems to work great!

[HotLips4077]

Hmmm, we don't have a policy for either. I've actually never thought about how long a pacifier should be good for-I typically just throw it out if it looks crusty and grab a new one. If I'm changing out an isolette, the baby gets all new everything (suction, z-flow, paci).

As for the NCPAP, we alternate every 6 hours between prongs and mask, but have no rule on their lifespan. They usually start to lose their firmness after so many days and the RTs just replace them with a new one. You can usually tell when they've reached their time since the mask or prongs won't stay attached to the headgear. Also, most of the time our babies are weaned quickly from BCPAP to high flow or vapotherm as tolerated.