I have been searching the web for the best practice for changing dressings on tunneled intrathecal catheters. Some sites talk about not changing the dressing at all and some sites talk about changing the dressing every 7 days. Using alcohol around the insertion site is not an option. I have been teaching the nurses to use Betadine only are there other options for cleansing the site?
Dressings on long term spinal catheters are changed while those on a temporary spinal catheter are not routinely changed. Currently, all of the CHG products for cleaning insertion sites have an alcoholic base (what is available in the US). So cleaning the skin can only be done with povidone iodine right now. You could use an aqueous based CHG but that involves use of pour bottles and repeated use, which adds its own risk of contamination. Have you checked with manufacturer's instructions for use from Bio-Patch to see if that can be used on spinal catheters? I don't think that dressing contains alcohol but they may or may not have a labeled indication for spinal catheters, just don't know for sure. 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