There has been a lot of resistance from other CNS and managers about needing a drape when accessing a port. Yes, it can be done aseptically by an experienced nurse but we continue to advise using the sterile drape to drop sterile items on it and for the more novice nurses. Some of the nurses state that this is not necessary and there is no literature that supports this. They claim ONS does not state the use of the drape. Their argument is that, as long as the nurse holds all her equipment in her sterile-gloved hands, there is no need for a drape. I agree, but the several of the nurses have difficulty with this.
I would like to hear some of your opinions.
Thanks,
Chris Thomas
INS Standards committee had long discussion about what to state for this. There is an absence of published evidence for sterile vs clean technique. In 2015 there was an oncology nurse who presented on this issue at the INS conference. Lots of education and control of the procedure among a small group of oncology nurses in a clinic; lots of outcome data collection and they supported use of clean technique. Don't think this has been published so it is not transferrable to other situations. I still think it is best to use sterile technique when there are many staff nurses doing the procedure and you can't guarantee that all will do clean technique in a uniform manner. We do need studies on this practice, although it might be difficult to isolate the access technique as the factor producing the outcome. 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
sterile field for placing supplies or sterile drape on the patient? If the supplies are not in a kit, that would affect the ability to provide for a sterile procedure.