Does your ICU use CHG wipes for bathing patients?

Editorial Team / Admin · May 9, 2016

I know the ICU in my facility is using them. No idea about other facilities. I don't work in the ICU (I'm OR), but having used the wipes on occasion, I think they're pretty useless as the only cleaning option. Traditional bed bath supplement for infection control I can see.

CowboyMedic, DNP, APRN, CRNA · May 10, 2016

We use them in all of our ICU's. Med Surg, Burn, and CV.

sarah_smile, BSN, RN · May 10, 2016

We use them in my ICU. With that being said, I rarely use that as the ONLYâ€‹ means for bathing my patients. Typically I will do a soap and water bed bath, then CHG wipes, followed up with lotion. They have been proven to prevent infections, and keep the bad bacteria on the skin at bay for up to 72 hours when used appropriately. I think they are very drying though, and my skin would be on fire if I bathed with them daily!

calivianya, BSN, RN · May 10, 2016

Yep, we use the CHG baths. They took away our bath basins so there are no more soap and water baths unless you want to do them out of a bedpan, which is awkward if the patient is alert. We have some non-CHG wipes for the sensitive areas, but the CHG ones are used everywhere else.

micurn0126 · May 11, 2016

Studies have shown that patients who are bathed with with just soap/water versus just CHG wipes are 1.5 times more likely to acquire MRSA.

http://www.australiancriticalcare.com/article/S1036-7314(13)00127-6/pdf

Chlorhexidine Gluconate Bathing to Reduce Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Acquisition

NPOaftermidnight, MSN, RN, NP · May 15, 2016

We have done this for a few years now in all of our ICUs.

Greenclip · May 19, 2016

All of our patients have a CHG bed bath every day. We don't use the wipes. We use a new bath basin and wash cloths, and each patient has a foaming CHG soap dispenser. That is used throughout all the ICUs in our hospital, including the PCU, and it's also ordered for certain at-risk patients.

Pprwrk · May 21, 2016

Our ICU has been using the packaged CHG wipes for several years. The patients are to have a wipe-down with the packaged CHG wipes at least once a day. If the patient has been incontinent, or there is a larger mess to clean up, then washcloths with plain water are to be used... no basins. You can wet the wash cloths, and pile them on a towel. The wipes can be used to also clean off foley caths and any tube/line/wire resting on the patient and extending out from the patient. The CHG binds to the skin. Using soap washes it off and reduced its effectiveness. Soaps and lotions create a barrier on the skin that prevent the CHG from binding to the skin. If lotions are to be used, they are to be applied after the CHG, and are to be deemed CHG compatible. The CHG bathing has been shown to decrease infection rates, including c-diff. The CHG does not kill the c-diff, but nonetheless, the CHG use has decreased c-diff rates in hospitals, especially if used hospital-wide. We just went through re-evaluating our packaged CHG wipes vs. using a CHG foam to be used while bathing with other pre-packaged bath wipes (cost saving potential). We decided to stay with the wipes, as there is a specific CHG dose with the wipes, and this would not be consistent with the foam soap. Also, the foam soap could encourage basin use again.

Here.I.Stand, BSN, RN · May 22, 2016

I've worked in my ICU for 3 yrs, and we have been using the wipes at least that long, once a day, or PM before/AM of if pt going to the OR.

We have a CHG-compatible body wash for an actual bed bath (my manager always says "those wipes are not a bath.") We follow that with the CHG wipes.

weirdscience · May 23, 2016

We use the CHG wipes, and are also starting to move away from calling them a "bath."

SquishyRN, BSN, RN · May 23, 2016

At the LTACH I work we use them on ICU and Med-Surg patients alike.