Antisepsis, Disinfection and Sterilization

Concurrent Education Session - 60 minutes

3207 - Disentangling Disinfectants: Considerations for Selecting or Changing Disinfecting Wipes

Primary Speaker(s)

• 

  Lewis Johnson, MS, CIH, CIC

  Industrial Hygienist
  Lee Health System
  Fort Myers, Florida

  Nothing to disclose

Moderator(s)

• 

  Tonya Wagner, BSN, RN

  Senior Clinical Director
  Amsurg
  Moncks Corner, South Carolina

Disinfecting wipes are ubiquitous in the healthcare environment, but how much thought have you given to them lately? It is difficult to keep staff trained and correctly using over a dozen different disinfectant wipe products, all with varying instructions for use and contact times.

This session will review the categories of disinfectant wipe chemistries and discuss compatibility issues related to equipment and furnishings in the healthcare environment.

Participants will learn about one system’s experiences reducing the number of approved disinfecting wipes from more than a dozen to four. This session will cover the benefits realized by this change, such as reduced storage space and more efficient pricing due to higher volume. Participants will also learn about the challenges involved in making such a comprehensive change and will explore how to engage all key stakeholders, such as environmental services, bioengineering, plant operations, and each clinical department, in the process.

Learning Objectives:

• Upon completion, participant will be able to describe the differences between four common classes of disinfectant wipes.
• Upon completion, participant will be able list two potential difficulties in switching to new disinfectant products from well-established products.
• Upon completion, participant will be able to list three benefits to minimizing the number of disinfectant wipe products in their facility.