I read a few days ago that all alcohol pads are not sterile and to my horror found out that ours are not sterile. Would like to know what position INS has on sterile alcohol pads and also what the rest of you are using. Sterile or not sterile. Thank you, Marcia
I don't think it needs to be sterile.
The nature of the product is to remove bacteria by applying it while using friction and in it's nature it "sterilize" the area you work on. Did you think that the old bottle Betadine we all used a million years ago was sterile? No, we used to pour it on the skin, urb it and "wait two minutes" until it dried, then it rendered the skin STERILE.
The sterile packaging of chloraprep is important because we use it on a sterile field but I do not think that the solution itself is "sterile" it is the property of it that renders sterility.
I don't know that for sure, but it sure makes sense to me.
Sorry but I disagree. Antiseptic solutions prepared without sterility can definitely introduce organisms to the area being cleaned. There is absolutely no way to make skin sterile! Can not be done as there will always be organisms in the lower layers that you simply can not reach. There have also been numerous events where intrinsic contamination of skin antiseptics have lead to major outbreaks in clinical settings. This is the reason why CliniPad went out of business - contaminated alcohol. There are numerous reports of povidone iodine being contaminated in the manufacturing process also. I would want to use sterile antiseptics.
Lynn Hadaway, M.Ed., RN, BC, CRNI
www.hadawayassociates.com
Lynn Hadaway, M.Ed., RN, NPD-BC, CRNI
Lynn Hadaway Associates, Inc.
PO Box 10
Milner, GA 30257
Website http://www.hadawayassociates.com
Office Phone 770-358-7861