Published
I work on a geriatric psych floor. I was off for a few days, and when I came back, one of the rooms was quarantined because one of our patients had acinetobacter. We didn't know she had the bug, and I didn't find out until after she was gone from the unit, and I had assessed her like any other patient with my stethoscope.
So how do I clean my stethoscope? I've been wiping it down with the cancer causing wipes at work (okay I've been told they cause cancer), but is there another way to really clean it? I read on the Littman website you just wipe it down. Does anyone know the ratio of bleach to water that would be appropriate?
I love the word 'fomite', too. But the actual fomite is the BP cuff itself, and you can't kill that
Also, you would think Cavi-wipes cause skin CA, but a quick search does not reveal which cancer it actually causes. I think they're required to put that on the label just like how some apartment complexes in California have signs stating that the premises contain substances known to cause cancer, i.e. cigarette smoke, other fumes, the sun...
I almost never use my stethoscope anymore . . . I work on a peds pulmonary unit and most of my patients have bad bugs, and many of them are chronically infected with MRSA and/or psuedomonas. The non-chronics often have RSV, pertussis, etc. And, the ones who are healthy, I don't want to get them sick. So most of our patients have the disposable scopes in their rooms.
brillohead, ADN, RN
1,781 Posts
Regular cuffs I can see, because they have that nylon-style covering that has a better chance of actually being cleaned. But the disposable type of cuff has a felt-like type of cloth covering on it. (It's hard to describe, but maybe you know what I'm talking about?) I don't see how a swipe with a cancer-wipe is going to kill all the fomites in the nooks and crannies of the cloth-style cuffs.
IME, just alcohol wipes PRN. With most patients, the doc just rounds once a day, and the assigned nurse is the only other person who uses the scope. So if the docs care about the nurse's earwax, they wipe the scopes with an alcohol square before using. And if the nurses care about the doc's earwax, they wipe the scopes before the next use after rounds.