Email Discussion Group: Infection Control Measures

(Thank you to Patricia A. Coblentz for last month’s discussion group question, below). I’m doing research to find out how the majority of cath lab personnel are dressing in cases: 1. Do all personnel entering the room need to have a surgical cap on? 2. Do all personnel entering the room need to have a mask on? 3. Do other labs allow all personnel to wear t-shirts (both short and long-sleeved) under their scrub tops? 4. Does the scrub person need to have all hair covered under a surgical cap? 5. How often is any one vendor rep allowed in the lab? HAVE A SUGGESTION FOR A FUTURE QUESTION? Email us at: cathlabdigest@aol.com We require that hats be worn in the lab, whenever a sterile tray is open, or will be opened. Those personnel wearing a mask include the physician and the scrub person. The circulator is not required to wear a mask. According to the OR nursing manual, nothing should be worn under scrub tops. We have amended this somewhat by allowing shirts under scrubs but frown upon turtlenecks. The guys wear the male version of the OR hat and the women wear the shower cap version. We allow one vendor per day, no more than one visit per 2 weeks (I think). Unless we have requested that they come to the lab due to new equipment or trials, or perhaps a specific physician is having trouble with a piece of equipment. From: csgehin@yahoo.com In our cath labs, everyone is required to wear hats and masks. We do wear long or short-sleeved t-shirts under our scrubs because our rooms tend to run on the cool side. Reps are allowed into the actual labs if OK with the docs¦that usually is not a problem. From: markscvl@aol.com For caths and interventions, hats are worn by most everyone but a few MDs. Masks are worn by all scrub techs and all but a couple of the MDs. Circulating nurses generally don’t have a mask on. For pacemakers and AICDs, all staff in the room do wear a hat and mask at all times. We have not had an infection problem with either cath/intervention or pacer/AICD. Staff do wear either T-shirts or long-sleeve T-shirts under their scrub tops, and scrub does not always have all hair covered. We assign vendor days so there are not two competing reps there on the same day. We do allow reps of non-competing products to be in the lab at the same time. From: bees9909@aol.com I know that the answers I am giving you are not the norm, because our Infection Control Department is extremely strict on procedure rooms, and they feel it should be like the O.R. Personnel entering the room need to have a surgical cap and mask on only if the sterile scrub pack is open to air. We can wear t-shirts (both short and long-sleeved) under our scrub tops at times, yes, but only if the Joint Comish is not around. The scrub person must have all their hair covered under a surgical cap. Our lab has a no vendor policy in the lab, unless the staff or physicians are being trained on new equipment. From: lizrd65@yahoo.com Would you like to join our Email Discussion Group? Send an email to cathlabdigest@hotmail.com!

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