Would you describe your facility as latex-free? I'd probably need just a few minutes inside your ORs to prove otherwise. I bet I'd find a loose rubber band lying around or some surgical supply that you'd be surprised to know contains latex. So while it's nearly impossible to be truly latex-free, you can and should certainly strive to be latex-safe. When you can say that you're latex-safe, it means you do your best to rid your facility of latex-containing products. Here are 5 steps you can take today.

1. Treat all patients as if they have a latex allergy. The continuity of practice is critical. You never know what allergies patients are walking in with, and sometimes they don't know, so don't assume anything. A good rule-of-thumb: Assume every patient (and staff member) who walks through your doors has a latex allergy. If you standardize and treat everybody the same way, you'll have less opportunity for safety fallout.

2. Take a complete inventory. Look beyond just what you consider clinical products, and keep an eye out for outliers. For example, if you're putting an armband on a patient, it may have latex on it. Maybe that's something you don't think about, because an armband isn't typically considered a clinical product. Another example: if you have a Jackson-Pratt Drain and use an elastic wrap to hold it against something, that elastic could contain latex. It's these little things patients come in contact with that you can't forget about. Conducting a complete assessment may prove difficult, as facilities use so many products. To help with the process, organize a latex treasure hunt. Empower your staff to try to find anything they think could contain latex. Your staff handles products every day, so it's worth tapping into their knowledge and experience. This hunt should be ongoing as you'll likely find products with latex in them as you go through your supply stock.

HIDDEN DANGERS
10 Surprising Products That Could Contain Latex

DID YOU KNOW? Some tourniquets contain latex.

1. Rubber stoppers from medication vials
2. Stethoscope tubing
3. Blood pressure cuffs
4. Tourniquets
5. Pads on crutches
6. Elastic bandages
7. Adhesive tapes
8. Urinary catheters
9. Wheelchair cushions
10. Identification bands

3. Remove latex products from your inventory. As you identify products containing latex, take them out of your stock and put them in a bag that labels them as latex products. You don't want to comingle things by mistake. If you have good relationships with your vendors, you may be able to exchange products with latex for those without. It can't hurt to ask and see if vendors will swap out your latex products.

4. Keep latex out. While removing latex products is an important step to becoming a latex-safe facility, those efforts will be for naught if you allow latex products back in. As you go forward, you should begin to develop a relationship with your vendors so any time you order something, they know you always want products to be latex-free. If vendors can't provide a non-latex product to you, they should tell you, and may even be able to recommend alternative companies that can fulfill your needs. Some vendors still maintain a list of their latex-free products, which should be yours for the asking. Your vendors should be willing to partner with you on your latex-safe initiative.

Despite an industry-wide shift toward non-latex products, never believe non-latex is the default when ordering a new product. You always need to ask about and verify a product's components.

5. Maintain latex safety processes. While you move closer to becoming a latex-safe facility, it's important not to let any latex-safety policies and procedures suffer in the process. As a safety measure, it's still important to assess every patient for latex allergies. We continue to ask all patients if they know whether they have a latex allergy. If they do, we ask about the severity of their reaction to latex, and notate this on the surgical schedule in our anecdotal notes. Also be sure to document on your handoff communication that the patient has a latex allergy.

As a latex-safe facility, we don't do anything differently for patients with latex allergies because our processes are standardized to keep latex away from patients. But since there's always a chance latex may come in contact with a patient, noting this on our schedule and during handoff communication ensures our staff won't ignore the possibility in the event of a reaction. Continue to educate your staff on latex safety. In-service staff annually about latex safety, even if you consider your facility to be latex-safe.

Ride the momentum
By working to eliminate products with latex to the best of your ability, you'll reduce the chance of an allergic reaction among patients and staff. All it takes is for one patient to have a really bad reaction and suffer a severe outcome for you to wish you would have undertaken the effort to go latex-safe. Just knowing there's a chance that a patient could suffer a full-blown reaction should serve as motivation to standardize your facility. The good news is that it's now much easier to become latex-safe than it used to be years ago. It took many years before the vendors got on board with producing non-latex products. When they finally did, you had to pay a premium to get latex-free. But after a while, costs came down and now many companies have simply stopped making latex products.