M A R C H 2 0 1 9 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y. N E T • 8 1
S
oon after
a total
joint or a
colon
resec-
tion patient settles
into his pre-op room
at Mercy Health St.
Elizabeth Boardman
(Ohio) Hospital, he's
greeted by a nurse
holding a box of tis-
sues in one hand and
a package of antiseptic nasal swabs in the other.
She offers him a tissue and asks him to blow his nose. Then the
nurse tilts the patient's head back, opens a 4-pack of povidone iodine
swabs and swirls the inner and anterior rim of each nostril for about
15 seconds apiece, and then repeats the process. If preferred, the
patient can swab himself.
The cost of nasal decolonization: a Kleenex, $15 for a package of
swabs and 2 minutes of a pre-op nurse's time. The payoff: fewer
MRSA or associated wound infections. A lot fewer.
"Compared to the cost of one infection, I'd say our return on invest-
ment was a positive one, as our colon SSI rate decreased significantly,"
says Maria Sliwinski, RN, BSN, MHHS, CNOR, clinical resource special-
Dan O'Connor | Editor-in-Chief
Fighting MRSA Infection
With a Tissue and a Swab
Nasal decolonization as part of a bundled
approach can help reduce wound infections.
• SWAB 'EM ALL Easy-to-apply povidone iodine and ethanol nasal decolonization products let more surgical facilities
routinely swab patients an hour or so before surgery.
Pamela
Bevelhymer,
RN,
BSN,
CNOR
