Single Use Leads

[nikkicoliCCRN]

Hey all you wonderful ICU people. Has anyone use single patient use monitor leads? I was wondering what kind of feedback anyone has. We are piloting them in our ICU. Our goal is to decrease sternal wound infections. The few studies done also suggest central line infections also. Even if you haven't tried them what do you think about new leads for each patient?

[Da_Milk_of_Amnesia, MSN]

There is alot that they say will decrease CLABSIs, we use single use leads in my CCU and since ive only been working there a little while I cant really comment on how they cut down on infections, as far as monitoring and that end I think they work just as good as the good old fashion ones that we clean after every use n for multiple patients...I think alot of this clabsi stuff is a bunch of BS, I think it has everything to due with sterile technique and keeping the area clean, and scrubbing the hub, and changing the dressing at the appropriate times. My unit had a bunch of clabsi and of course the nurses suffer, we are not allowed to draw off central lines, only A-lines currently....I do think they are a good idea because you're not sharing things between patients and honestly even tho the house keepers do a good job of cleaning things, how many times have you seen somerthing that was cleaned and there is still dried blood on it...maybe its b/c i worked in a trauma center n everyone was bloody as hell but either way, use them and draw your own conclusions.

[flo136]

We use them here in Adelaide, Australia. But only on VRE/MRSA patients.

They are great.Our regular patients' ECG leads are a bit bloody despite the cleans between admissions.

Particularly with VRE, it's good to bin them at the end of the admission. But other than that, we don't study sternal infection rates or anything. It's just for isolated patients.

[divaRN*]

we use single use BP cuffs and pulse ox which i think is a good idea. Not sure why we do not have single use EKG cables. But I would love to have them! I always think about how dirty everything is eventhough it is cleaned. I wonder what a culture would grow?

[MLB55]

We use single use EKG leads, pulse ox, and BP cuffs. I couldnt imagine re using any of that stuff. The single use ones get disgusting after a few days.

[miss arron]

I just started in a new hospital where they use them and I think it's a great idea.

Does anyone out there know how long they are good for? I had a patient tonite that's been here for just about a month and his ekg started acting up and changing the electrodes didn't help, but then switching the leads helped. Just wondering if there's any info out there on how often they should be replaced. I tried google, but couldn't find anything.