the skin and creates areas for bacteria to harbor. Because of this, IHI
recommends tossing any razors you have lying around.
For the most part, leaders are complying with this recommendation.
While 3% admit to still shaving patients, 97% of our survey respon-
dents use clippers to remove hair. "It's cleaner and less traumatic,"
says one medical director. "As standards teach us, it is the best for
infection control reasons," adds Betty O'Neal, RN, surgical services
manager for Summersville Regional Medical Center in Summersville,
W.Va.
Using a clipper requires more work than just running it over the skin.
AORN recommends you use single-use clipper heads and disinfect the
handle between each use to reduce the risk of SSIs. You have to be
extra careful in certain areas of the body, especially around loose skin.
"What I do not like about using a clipper for hair removal is that the
blade tends to stick in skin folds and anywhere there is moisture," says
a nurse from Pittsburgh, Pa.
While clippers are the most popular choice, AORN says you can also
use depilatories, alkaline creams or lotions that dissolve hair from the
surface. When using depilatories, you should perform a skin test on an
area away from the surgical site 24 hours in advance to test for aller-
gies or reactions, says AORN. This, along with their increased costs
and mess, may be why zero survey respondents say they use depilato-
ries. For Kathleen Trussell, DNP, of Othello (Wash.) Community
Hospital, the reasoning behind choosing clippers over other methods is
simple. "Razors cause cuts," she says, "and depilatories can cause skin
irritation and chemical burns." OSM
E-mail kgapinski@outpatientsurgery.net.
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