Cleaning Supplies in the NICU

[alyssak517]

Hello, I belong on the developmental committee at the NICU that I work at. We are currently trying to improve out developmental protocol. One of the things that we are working on right now is toxins in the NICU which includes our cleaning supplies. We currently use CaviWipes to clean our isolettes. We use to use Virex however that had a dry time of 10 minutes so that is why we switched to CaviWipes which have a less dry time. My question is what types of cleaning supplies do you use to clean your isolettes in your NICU? We feel that the CaviWipes might be too harmful for our preemies. We are currently looking into research articles but have not found a lot. Thanks for helping!

[NicuGal, MSN, RN]

We use Caviwipes. There really isn't much else out there. We don't wipe the inside with them when their are babies in there, we use soap and water. We use the wipes on the outside and all high touch surfaces.

We we change our isolettes weekly unless they are too critical and they are cleaned with some other solution.

[alyssak517]

Never thought to just clean the inside with soap and water, I will bring that up to my committee members!

[alyssak517]

What is the brand of the soap that you use to clean the inside with?

[Jory, MSN, APRN, CNM]

The isolettes are cleaned by a team with specialized training. The nurses don't touch them. We are not permitted to use Caviwipes on the clear parts because it will eventually haze. Inside is contraindicated.

I think (not completely sure) that a hydrogen peroxide solution is used on the clear areas.

[NICURN29]

After the cleaning solution has dried, we rinse our beds with plain water to remove any residue. They are cleaned by our unit clerks/PCAs.

[morgan_porgan]

One hospital i work at got rid of CaviWipes because they're known to cause cancer hence why you always have to wear gloves when wearing them. They switched to hydrogen peroxide wipes by Clorox. We didn't use those to clean isolettes though, housekeeping did that.

And the other hospital I work at still used CaviWipes to wipe down mostly everything. Not sure what the tech's and housekeeping use to clean isolettes though!