"blue towels" in sets.

[safetymaven]

I seem to be full of questions this evening. At an AORN session this year given by Nancy Chobin, she mentioned that even adding towels to sets might change the packaging validation from the container, wrapper etc.

Is it acceptable practice to put blue towels on the top and bottom of things like drill cases
Is it acceptable to put blue towels around wire or solid trays being wrapped in blue wrap?
Just want to clearly understand what that comment meant as blue (huck) towels are the norm and when not used we have many holes in the wrappers.
thanks

[Harvey Johnson]

Hi Maven,
Nancy is reminding us not to be complacent with our sterilization parameters as they change with any revision to a set, container or wrap.
Section 8 of AAMI ST 79 addresses considerations for wrap and containment.
I hate to admit this, but our department had been using the relaundered blue towels for years to contain and as a liner to wrap without looking at the process or results.
Lint is also now a big issue in surgical suites with the danger of just one small lint particle entering an open cavity possibly could result in long range negative effects on patient outcomes.
Take a look at the nooks and crannies around your assembly tables and you will have an idea of how much lint is generated by blue towels.
Also a consideration is the manufacturer's approval as to the resterilization of the towels.
We checked with the manufacturer of the blue towels used in our department and was told they will never approve reuse or resterilization of their towels! Yikes!
So we sent all blue towels to housekeeping and switched to paper tray liners from Cardinal for wrap protection (as well as a heavier grade wrap) and a lint free green surgical towel for containment, specificaly approved for use in the surgical suite, with instructions on resterilization and expected towel life.
As with any process changes or tray modification there must be revalidation using integrators and BI's to assure sterilization parameters are met.
Hope this helps.
Harv

[safetymaven]

wow
the more you find out, the less you feel like you know:eek:
we do use a green towel in our cardiac cases and I am thinking I need to find out more as they are supposed to be non-linting and we do re-sterillize them. I will check into the paper liners as we sure need to do something different from what I am hearing. I would like to approve using the paper liner in the actual pan the instruments are placed into as well as between the pan and the blue wrap for wrapped items?
Thanks Harv!

[walter r steiger]

I use OR towels but i have never used tray liners do you use them in the same way that
the blue towels are used? I also wrap light items will the tray liner take place of the blue towels? I really need help with this

thanks walter

[Harvey Johnson]

We use the approved for sterilization tray liners the same way we previously used the blue towels.
We also use approved for sterilization envelopes/pouches to hold items we used to wrap in the blue towels to place inside trays.

[DebbieLynn]

Here is my question of the day. I was always told that once a towel has been sterilized, it must be laundered before the next sterilization. Does anyone re-sterilze towels before laundering? (example: A specialty tray outdates and is redone. New ones or re-do the ones in the tray?) Would love lots of feedback on this!!!
Thank you,:o
Debbie
Charlevoix Area Hospital

[carol1967]

In our institution all towels are re laundered after use.

[fkrizman]

Why?
I was also told to re launder towels. I could see re- laundering because of contamination issues but what if it is something that was opened in idea conditions such as opened in the CS department. Is there an AAMI recommendation?

[ajproberts]

In our hospital we always have the laundry re laundered, no matter what condition it was opened. It seems like I remember something about it could cause a fire using it twice without laundering again. I think it was our steris rep who told us this but don't remember. If anyone has documentation as to why, I would like to know.

[barry govenor]

we also re-launder all linen to be re-sterilized. Aside from the possibility that the linen has been contaminated, larger amounts ( such as basic linen packs containing several each of varied linens) if not re-laundered, can cause you to have a super-heated load in the autoclave. This dries the linen to the point where its useable time period is cut short ( more expense replacing it) . There is, I believe, a more important reason for avoiding a super-heated load in the technologist's text book but I can't recall it just now and may text book is out on loan. (It may be that the ultra dry linen absorbs much of the steam that would otherwise penetrate the linen without being absorbed by it).

[cpdguy]

WOW !!! great topic.
One of the reason you must re-launder the towels is that the absopbance of the towel changes. This was pointed out in the email earlier.

Looking at ones practice is always good. KC at one time had a study they were putting out on lint and infection. I will try to find that study. If I find it in my old records I will let others know and can send it. Or post on my web page. Just interesting to read.

Or if anybody else finds the article share it also.

[fkrizman]

Good for nursing CE is nurse.com. They have an article called Surgical Adhesions: The ties that bind.It talks about possible causes of surgical adhesions and, you guessed it, lint is one. I am not sure but it may be one of the many free CEs they offer.

[anonymous]

On the subject of delinting, we ran out of our delint rolls some time ago my Lead tried finding some but no luck,does anyone know of a distributer to where we can order them through or do you just go to your local Walmart. We have not been using any because my Lead is under the impression that the linen company is delinting them and if they do see lint they just pick it off.Is that excetable.

[fkrizman]

We use a brand called Helmac lint pic-up zip strip. It says refills available through your distributor. The company is located in Flint, MI. Used to use Walmart. (MI needs the jobs)