Our medication machine requires a finger scan. It is not uncommon to see nurses walk up and run their finger on their forehead before scanning their finger. I generally refuse to do this as I try not to touch any part of my face while working, but am often left mashing my finger in different directions and getting rejected multiple times.
I just imagine the pyxis as this epicenter of germs on our unit. Each nurse goes to it and takes whatever germs they have picked up back to their patients rooms. The fact that the cleaner your hands the harder it is to pick up your finger print means that people are less apt to wash their hands right before they take out meds, only making it more germ filled.
Any other units have this problem? Anyone have any recommendations
Specializes in Nurse Leader specializing in Labor & Delivery.
If you use a bit of lotion on your finger first, it will pick it up. We keep a small bottle of lotion on our Pyxis. I know of one nurse who will LICK HER FINGER first.
Specializes in Spinal Cord injuries, Emergency+EMS.
given that the traditional drug trolley has been abandoned in some places ( in favour of bedside lockers) and being a massive fomite is one of the reasons given ....
fingerprint scanner in healthcare setting - yuck , just yuck ...
Our state requires fingerprinting for all nurses. Some are hard to get because their ridges have worn down from so much handwashing. Not to mention we are getting older.
One day for kicks and giggles the pharmacy manager and the infection control nurse at the hospital I worked at decided start randomly culturing items up on the floors and the pharmacy.
Our Pyxis machines were just behind the elevator buttons for total pathogens (and WAY ahead of nursing keyboards drinking fountains and wait for it the FLOOR!
I have such troubles with the Pyxis, sometimes I have tried as many as nine times to get it to work for me. Now is that a good use of my time? That's when a password seems like a good idea!
I've seen people both rub their fingers on their foreheads and lick their fingers to get Pyxis to pick up their prints. GROSS. I've been standing there, waiting to witness a waste, when they do it, too......I'm like, um, hello, that's gross....I am waiting to put in MY print right after you!
Well, I haven't heard anyone say they ruined their pyxis machine by using alcohol (or anything else). That's good news! Perhaps my hospital is a bit off base on this one.
Our medication machine requires a finger scan. It is not uncommon to see nurses walk up and run their finger on their forehead before scanning their finger. I generally refuse to do this as I try not to touch any part of my face while working, but am often left mashing my finger in different directions and getting rejected multiple times.
I just imagine the pyxis as this epicenter of germs on our unit.
One of the nurses on my unit licks her finger before she scans it on the pyxis. All in all, as often as we all wash our hands, we're all probably gonna be ok.
One of the nurses on my unit licks her finger before she scans it on the pyxis. All in all, as often as we all wash our hands, we're all probably gonna be ok.
So true. Very few nurses I know end up in the ICU on vents, losing their jobs, their quality of life, and almost their life; due to a hospital acquired infection. But I doubt the two I've known would say that "probably ok" is good enough.
On the other hand our patients get nosocomial infections at an alarming rate. Some die. They often get these infections from their nurse passing it on to them. So I think it is worth it to take a look at our practice.
Workingspaz: alcohol trick worked 100% of the time yesterday. I am constantly washing my hands with soap and water and degermer. I always had problems at the pyxis with the fingerscan. Wasting too much time trying to get my print to go through. Yesterday, wiped my finger with alcohol pad, dried with paper towel (luckily next to pyxis) and didn't have a problem at all! (immediately washed my hands after using pyxis :) Maybe buildup from degermer causing all the problems.
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klone, MSN, RN
14,857 Posts
If you use a bit of lotion on your finger first, it will pick it up. We keep a small bottle of lotion on our Pyxis. I know of one nurse who will LICK HER FINGER first.