Dropping tele cables on floor before cleaning

[tonytayag]

A common hospital practice is to drop used tele cables on the floor before cleaning. It seems this practice makes the cable dirtier. I was wondering if dropping used tele cables on the floor before wiping it clean increases the chances of infection? I can't find any articles on the topic. Thanks Tony

[dandk1997RN, MSN, RN]

We put our used cables and boxes in a basket near the monitor station. Much more sanitary way to let someone know they need to be cleaned...

[Lennonninja, MSN, APRN, NP]

We've noticed that if we *don't* do something as noticeable as this, housekeeping will frequently NOT clean the cables at all, and we'll find them in a "cleaned" room, with old used patches on them still! Ours are hardwired to the bedside monitor and not disposable.

[Cardiac-RN]

@tonytayag,

Not sure where the practice of 'dropping the tele cables on the floor to notify the techs that they need to be cleaned' originated, but perhaps just designating a specific area/ box on the unit for dirty tele cables to be placed with the intent of being cleaned would solve the problem? Does not make any sense to me at all to 'drop' equipment that is expensive on the floor intentionally. Makes even less sense when you consider possible contamination. Is nursing management aware of this common practice? I would imagine they would welcome an alternative suggestive to dealing with this... especially those management persons who know how much $$$ those things actually cost... Most units I have worked on in the past, housekeeping did not clean the tele boxes or cables, but rather the techs did.

Cardiac-RN

[meanmaryjean, DNP, RN]

One of our ICU nurses got funding to culture 'clean' monitor cables. I didn't even recognize some of the bizarre organisms that grew. I'm very curious about what would grow in our PICU- being that the 'real estate' is much smaller.

[UnbrokenRN09, BSN]

LOL....ok. No hospital I've been in does this.