I have talked with other home care companies that are doing this but have never seen a p & p. Since this is not available in a prefilled syringe or small vial, a pharmacy should be preparing the syringes under a laminar flow hood according to USP 797, then stored and used within the data assigned. You will need to know the type of catheter where this solution will be used. My conversations with other home care nurses revealed that they are using ethanol only on catheters made of silicone and not on the polyurethane catheters. The issue is that all alcohol has the potential to be a solvent and damage the polyurethane. All polyurethane catheter manufacturers have statements in their IFU about exposure to alcohol. Many are saying that alcohol exposure for skin antisepsis is acceptable, however I do not think any company has addressed any statements about instilling ethanol into a polyurethane catheter and allowing it to dwell for an extended period of time. There have been a couple of lab studies testing polyurethane exposure to alcohols, but no change in catheter IFUs yet that I am aware of. Any reps from a catheter manufacturer that has addressed this yet? If so, please let us know what your company is now saying. Lynn
I have talked with other home care companies that are doing this but have never seen a p & p. Since this is not available in a prefilled syringe or small vial, a pharmacy should be preparing the syringes under a laminar flow hood according to USP 797, then stored and used within the data assigned. You will need to know the type of catheter where this solution will be used. My conversations with other home care nurses revealed that they are using ethanol only on catheters made of silicone and not on the polyurethane catheters. The issue is that all alcohol has the potential to be a solvent and damage the polyurethane. All polyurethane catheter manufacturers have statements in their IFU about exposure to alcohol. Many are saying that alcohol exposure for skin antisepsis is acceptable, however I do not think any company has addressed any statements about instilling ethanol into a polyurethane catheter and allowing it to dwell for an extended period of time. There have been a couple of lab studies testing polyurethane exposure to alcohols, but no change in catheter IFUs yet that I am aware of. Any reps from a catheter manufacturer that has addressed this yet? If so, please let us know what your company is now saying. Lynn
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
http://www.iv-therapy.net/node/2985
http://www.iv-therapy.net/node/3185
Alternative lock solutions have been mentioned before.
Peter Marino R.N. BSN CRNI VA-BC Hospital based staff R.N. with no affiliation to any product or health care company.