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Nurses Make the Difference!
From the San Diego Convention Center to a medical center in Maine – and dozens of spots in between – buildings and other landmarks are illuminated to in support...
LOOK FOR LIGHT Inspect instrument wrappings for infection prevention's sake.If You Can See Light Through The Wrap ...
Studies suggest that a certain percentage of supposedly sterile instruments are compromised right out of your reprocessors' or vendors' packages, no matter how careful they are. And items that have been compromised present an infection risk to your patients — which is why I insist that my staff always inspect the packaging that sterile instruments come in.
It's a simple process. After a nurse unpacks the items she's pulled for a case, she examines the blue wraps and peel packs for pinholes or shelf-slices by holding them up to the ceiling lights (or over the prep table, if it's one of those that light up). If she can see light through it, sterility isn't guaranteed.
When I used to do this as an OR nurse, the other nurses and even the surgeons looked at me like I was crazy. They'd been told, "It's double-wrapped, it's good." Now I save sheets of blue wrap for in-services and ask staff members, "Was this package compromised?" Once they started seeing the holes, it was a huge a-ha moment and it became their practice. They started seeing holes even I wouldn't have seen.
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