Transducer Disinfection for Evaluation and Insertion of Peripheral and Central Catheters for Vascular Access Teams and Clinicians

Disinfection, sterilization, and antisepsis: An overview

“…Some items that may come in contact with nonintact skin for a brief period of time (eg, hydrotherapy tanks, ultrasound probes on intact skin [includes central line puncture site]) are usually considered noncritical surfaces and are disinfected with low-or intermediate-level disinfectants. 5,27,28 Since hydrotherapy tanks have been associated with spread of infection, some facilities have chosen to disinfect them with recommended levels of chlorine. 5,27…”

Disinfection of Ultrasound Transducers Used for Percutaneous Procedures

“…Current guidelines from multiple clinical societies have endorsed the use of low-level disinfection (LLD) for transcutaneous ultrasound transducer cleaning and disinfection used for guidance of percutaneous procedures. [1][2][3] Some organizations are not congruent regarding their recommendations for disinfection. 1,[4][5][6][7] In some cases, guidelines that address endocavity transducers are being misapplied to percutaneous and vascular-access applications.…”

Survey of Ultrasound-Guided Peripheral Intravenous Practices: A Report of Supply Usage and Variability Between Clinical Roles and Departments

“…[16][17][18][19] According to the Association for Vascular Access (AVA) guidance document for transducer disinfection with peripheral and central catheters, a sterile transducer/probe cover should be used during any vascular access procedure including UG-PIV. 20 The INS standards recommend use of a large, sterile, transparent membrane dressing over the transducer/probe or sterile sheath cover. 12 In this survey, almost one-third of all respondents reported no use of ultrasound transducer/probe cover or transparent dressing covers during the UGPIV procedure.…”

“…Maximum sterile barriers are not required for UGPIV insertions, although sterile gloves are suggested for use in the INS standards and the AVA guidance document. 12,20 Concerns over PIV bacterial infections are evident in the literature, causing many clinicians and hospitals to adopt use of sterile gloves and components. In this survey, one-third of respondents said they always used sterile gloves, one-quarter sometimes, and slightly less than half stated they used nonsterile gloves.…”

“…36 Current recommendations include use of sterile gel for all UGPIV procedures. 12,20,26,37 Despite these recommendations, the survey shows variable gel use with multi-use gel bottles, single-use, and sterile gel with responses equally divided for each type of gel. More than 22% of survey respondents stated they sometimes used each of the gel categories for multi-use, single, and sterile gel packet.…”