patient treatment
area, discard it at the
end of the case.
• Date and discard
a multi-dose vial that
has been opened or
accessed within 28
days unless the man-
ufacturer specifies a
shorter or longer
date for that opened
vial. Discard a multi-
dose vial that has not been opened or accessed per manufacturer's
expiration date.
2. Unsanitary anesthesia providers
You might not worry much about your anesthesia providers increasing
the risk of contamination, but infection from injection is a growing
concern, says Chuck Biddle, CRNA, PhD, a full professor and staff
anesthetist at Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center in
Richmond.
To illustrate his point, Dr. Biddle explains the "drawer-to-arm phe-
nomenon" as an anesthetist prepares to inject a patient. Every time
he touches a drawer on the anesthesia workstation to grab a swab
or a vial or a syringe, he's increasing the risk of contamination. "We
are the vectors of any sort of biological or bioburden material,"
says Dr. Biddle.
The way anesthesia workstations are designed makes them incred-
ibly difficult to clean and sterilize effectively, says Dr. Biddle. In a
study published in the National Center for Bio-
3 2 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E • J A N U A R Y 2 0 1 8
• SAFEST PRACTICE Always enter a medication vial with a new sterile needle and a new
sterile syringe.
Pamela
Bevelhymer,
RN,
BSN,
CNOR
