Cleaning a dressing trolley ??

[wehttam]

good morning everyone just wrote a long post it got deleted.

I'm presently attending nursing school. I'm just curious as to how do you prepare your dressing trolley, where I'm living the technique that is implemented is a one wipe technique i.e you would use large pieces of cotton (pieces bigger than the palm of your hand) with 70% isopropyl you would then take pieces of this large cotton and in a sweeping movement wipe a portion of the surface then throw it away you will continue to do this until you have covered the entire trolley.........

question how do you clean your trolley in preparation for a change of dressing or any sterile procedure... do you wipe the surface vigorously with a special cleaning solution or do you use a one wipe technique.

I hate it ...... but I have no choice .. I am unable to find any literature to compare other techniques

[LovingLife123]

A dressing trolley? Is that a cart filled with dressing supplies you move from room to room? I've never heard of one.

We don't use one. The wound care nurses do if that's what you are talking about. But generally I just set up my sterile area after cleaning it off with a bleach wipe. I find whatever surface is available at the time.

[Rose_Queen, BSN, MSN, RN]

OP, are you in the US? It seems the majority of members here are, but by your use of "trolley" I suspect you are not.

Not sure about the entire hospital, but in the OR where I work (US), I know that alcohol is not approved for cleaning. We must use an EPA approved hospital grade cleaner that meets the requirements of being effective against certain pathogens.

[GrumpyRN, NP]

I hate it ...... but I have no choice .. I am unable to find any literature to compare other techniques

Where did you look? I googled "cleaning dressing trolleys" and top of the list was this;

Techniques for aseptic dressing and procedures

Literally a 30 second search!!!

[skylark, BSN, RN]

For all you non-UK nurses here, a dressing trolley is the metal cart we use as our sterile field for procedures such as dressing changes, foley insertion etc.

Its cleaned down at the start, and all supplies are stacked on the bottom shelf, then the cart/trolley is taken to the patient's bedside. Once there, the top shelf is cleaned again then the sterile field is placed on this surface and supplies dropped on there.

[Adeola Oke]

I was recently taught to turn round the trolley with one hand while cleaning the legs and sides with same hand which was difficult and quite frustrating....does it really matter how you clean so far you ensure the trolley is well cleaned and not contaminated? Really affecting my confidence in ANTT I have mastered and performed competently over the years.

I SEARCHED ON LINE BUT NO INFORMATION TO SHOW THAT IS NECESSARY

[Adeola Oke]

PLEASE WHOEVER IS IN THE UK AND KNOWS AN EVIDENCED BASED TECHNIQUE FOR CLEANING THE TROLLEY FOR ANTT SHOULD POST IT HERE

[Rose_Queen, BSN, MSN, RN]

@Adeola Oke, what does your facility policy/procedure state? Infection control is another resource to reach out to.