reusing in-line suction catheters

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i was just informed by one of the RT's i work with that they REUSE the in-line suction catheters for trachs (the smaller ones). am i CRAZY :confused: or does this not sound incredibly disgusting ??? according to him, they are very hard to come by so they wash them w/ H2O and reuse them. i've always said i never want a trach ... this just verifies my reason not to !!! :eek:

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You're joking, right???????????

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i only wish i were joking. actually, they took offense at us lowly nurses even questioning how they did things here.

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Specializes in Critical Care.

Do you have an infection control nurse?

Noney

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actually, i'm sure we do, but i'm new here so i don't know for sure. i can't imagine there not being some HUGE infection control concerns w/ this practice.

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Specializes in Med-Surg.

Report him to your manager and say that you have concerns. Or report it to someone, saying that you want verfication of this practice that it's protocol.

People probably do that at home, like they do with urinary catheters, so I wouldn't be surprised. But I definately think he's wrong.

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Specializes in Interventional Pain Mgmt NP; Prior ICU and L/D RN.

DISGUSTING!!!!!! That is improper no matter how you look at it....REPORT IT!!!!

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Specializes in NICU.

Ewww...trachs tend to colonize pseudomonas and a whole bunch of other nasties. For the sake of your patients, I hope he was joking.:uhoh21:

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Eww, eww, ewwww!!!! Yuck! Totally bad juju and infection control issues there!

* makes appointment to have ' NO TRACH!' tattooed on upper chest *

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