Nebulizer use in hospital

[sdelorenzo]

I was wondering about what your hospital does regarding nebulizers. My son has pneumonia in his upper right lung and we checked in yesterday. He is doing well, lungs sound good, good energy, clean culture from earlier this week. He had the flu last week and still is coughing too much. Anyway, Texas Children's gives you one nebulizer and mask per day. Regardless of the number of meds you do. So they just rinse with sterile water between meds and let sit until next treatment. Am I wrong to be upset about this? Is this what your child's hospital does? My son's dr just came by. He also heads the CF department here. I asked him why they wouldn't be following the CF Foundations recommendations to only use one medication per nebulizer and to sterile/clean between each medication and/or treatment. He said well they checked with the pharmacy guy downstairs and he didn't seem to think that bacteria would grow between treatments. Also the pharmacy said it is okay to just rinse between meds.

I said that it wasn't okay with me though. That I want to bring my clean nebs from home and then sterilize them when I go home and then bring them back. Honestly, he was taken back with my request and said he will see if we can get that approved on Monday. Not sure what problem that would be!
Sharon, mom of Sophia, 6 and Jack, 4 both with cf

 

[sdelorenzo]

I was wondering about what your hospital does regarding nebulizers. My son has pneumonia in his upper right lung and we checked in yesterday. He is doing well, lungs sound good, good energy, clean culture from earlier this week. He had the flu last week and still is coughing too much. Anyway, Texas Children's gives you one nebulizer and mask per day. Regardless of the number of meds you do. So they just rinse with sterile water between meds and let sit until next treatment. Am I wrong to be upset about this? Is this what your child's hospital does? My son's dr just came by. He also heads the CF department here. I asked him why they wouldn't be following the CF Foundations recommendations to only use one medication per nebulizer and to sterile/clean between each medication and/or treatment. He said well they checked with the pharmacy guy downstairs and he didn't seem to think that bacteria would grow between treatments. Also the pharmacy said it is okay to just rinse between meds.

I said that it wasn't okay with me though. That I want to bring my clean nebs from home and then sterilize them when I go home and then bring them back. Honestly, he was taken back with my request and said he will see if we can get that approved on Monday. Not sure what problem that would be!
Sharon, mom of Sophia, 6 and Jack, 4 both with cf

 

[sdelorenzo]

I was wondering about what your hospital does regarding nebulizers. My son has pneumonia in his upper right lung and we checked in yesterday. He is doing well, lungs sound good, good energy, clean culture from earlier this week. He had the flu last week and still is coughing too much. Anyway, Texas Children's gives you one nebulizer and mask per day. Regardless of the number of meds you do. So they just rinse with sterile water between meds and let sit until next treatment. Am I wrong to be upset about this? Is this what your child's hospital does? My son's dr just came by. He also heads the CF department here. I asked him why they wouldn't be following the CF Foundations recommendations to only use one medication per nebulizer and to sterile/clean between each medication and/or treatment. He said well they checked with the pharmacy guy downstairs and he didn't seem to think that bacteria would grow between treatments. Also the pharmacy said it is okay to just rinse between meds.

I said that it wasn't okay with me though. That I want to bring my clean nebs from home and then sterilize them when I go home and then bring them back. Honestly, he was taken back with my request and said he will see if we can get that approved on Monday. Not sure what problem that would be!
Sharon, mom of Sophia, 6 and Jack, 4 both with cf

 

[sdelorenzo]

I was wondering about what your hospital does regarding nebulizers. My son has pneumonia in his upper right lung and we checked in yesterday. He is doing well, lungs sound good, good energy, clean culture from earlier this week. He had the flu last week and still is coughing too much. Anyway, Texas Children's gives you one nebulizer and mask per day. Regardless of the number of meds you do. So they just rinse with sterile water between meds and let sit until next treatment. Am I wrong to be upset about this? Is this what your child's hospital does? My son's dr just came by. He also heads the CF department here. I asked him why they wouldn't be following the CF Foundations recommendations to only use one medication per nebulizer and to sterile/clean between each medication and/or treatment. He said well they checked with the pharmacy guy downstairs and he didn't seem to think that bacteria would grow between treatments. Also the pharmacy said it is okay to just rinse between meds.

I said that it wasn't okay with me though. That I want to bring my clean nebs from home and then sterilize them when I go home and then bring them back. Honestly, he was taken back with my request and said he will see if we can get that approved on Monday. Not sure what problem that would be!
Sharon, mom of Sophia, 6 and Jack, 4 both with cf

 

[sdelorenzo]

I was wondering about what your hospital does regarding nebulizers. My son has pneumonia in his upper right lung and we checked in yesterday. He is doing well, lungs sound good, good energy, clean culture from earlier this week. He had the flu last week and still is coughing too much. Anyway, Texas Children's gives you one nebulizer and mask per day. Regardless of the number of meds you do. So they just rinse with sterile water between meds and let sit until next treatment. Am I wrong to be upset about this? Is this what your child's hospital does? My son's dr just came by. He also heads the CF department here. I asked him why they wouldn't be following the CF Foundations recommendations to only use one medication per nebulizer and to sterile/clean between each medication and/or treatment. He said well they checked with the pharmacy guy downstairs and he didn't seem to think that bacteria would grow between treatments. Also the pharmacy said it is okay to just rinse between meds.

I said that it wasn't okay with me though. That I want to bring my clean nebs from home and then sterilize them when I go home and then bring them back. Honestly, he was taken back with my request and said he will see if we can get that approved on Monday. Not sure what problem that would be!
Sharon, mom of Sophia, 6 and Jack, 4 both with cf

 

[3gr8kids]

I would bring my own till then!!! We wash and use the Germ Guardian after every use!!! No exceptions.... And you are doing the same as I would....Keep fighting!!!

 

[3gr8kids]

I would bring my own till then!!! We wash and use the Germ Guardian after every use!!! No exceptions.... And you are doing the same as I would....Keep fighting!!!

 

[3gr8kids]

I would bring my own till then!!! We wash and use the Germ Guardian after every use!!! No exceptions.... And you are doing the same as I would....Keep fighting!!!

 

[3gr8kids]

I would bring my own till then!!! We wash and use the Germ Guardian after every use!!! No exceptions.... And you are doing the same as I would....Keep fighting!!!

 

[3gr8kids]

I would bring my own till then!!! We wash and use the Germ Guardian after every use!!! No exceptions.... And you are doing the same as I would....Keep fighting!!!

 

[pjspiegle]

I agree, keep fighting. At the very least you should get one each for each different med being used. For example we get one for the 10% hypertonic, one for the pulmozyme, one for albuteral (if we are doing it via neb instead of inhaled), one for tobi, colistin, or aztreonam (which ever one we are using at the time), etc. and the hospital always marks the nebs as to which is which so that there is no chance of mixing a med with another med. They also rinse them out with sterile water after every use and replace them every 3 days. Then my friend and I wash them in the microwave daily in one of the microwave bags (Quick Clean Micro-Steam Bags by medela; which our CF team provides to us).

Does the CF team know this? I would keep fighting and bring some from home in the meantime.

Now that he uses the eflow, we take that with us and use it even at the hospital now. It is true that you only have one neb for all meds, but with the eflow you rinse it out between meds and swish some alcohol through it and the medal part is stored in alcohol between uses and the entire unit is washed daily.

At the very least insist that they rinse the neb with alchol and dry it between meds.

They should know that this is fine if all they have is asthma but CF is so different and this is just not acceptable.

Good Luck!

 

[pjspiegle]

I agree, keep fighting. At the very least you should get one each for each different med being used. For example we get one for the 10% hypertonic, one for the pulmozyme, one for albuteral (if we are doing it via neb instead of inhaled), one for tobi, colistin, or aztreonam (which ever one we are using at the time), etc. and the hospital always marks the nebs as to which is which so that there is no chance of mixing a med with another med. They also rinse them out with sterile water after every use and replace them every 3 days. Then my friend and I wash them in the microwave daily in one of the microwave bags (Quick Clean Micro-Steam Bags by medela; which our CF team provides to us).

Does the CF team know this? I would keep fighting and bring some from home in the meantime.

Now that he uses the eflow, we take that with us and use it even at the hospital now. It is true that you only have one neb for all meds, but with the eflow you rinse it out between meds and swish some alcohol through it and the medal part is stored in alcohol between uses and the entire unit is washed daily.

At the very least insist that they rinse the neb with alchol and dry it between meds.

They should know that this is fine if all they have is asthma but CF is so different and this is just not acceptable.

Good Luck!

 

[pjspiegle]

I agree, keep fighting. At the very least you should get one each for each different med being used. For example we get one for the 10% hypertonic, one for the pulmozyme, one for albuteral (if we are doing it via neb instead of inhaled), one for tobi, colistin, or aztreonam (which ever one we are using at the time), etc. and the hospital always marks the nebs as to which is which so that there is no chance of mixing a med with another med. They also rinse them out with sterile water after every use and replace them every 3 days. Then my friend and I wash them in the microwave daily in one of the microwave bags (Quick Clean Micro-Steam Bags by medela; which our CF team provides to us).

Does the CF team know this? I would keep fighting and bring some from home in the meantime.

Now that he uses the eflow, we take that with us and use it even at the hospital now. It is true that you only have one neb for all meds, but with the eflow you rinse it out between meds and swish some alcohol through it and the medal part is stored in alcohol between uses and the entire unit is washed daily.

At the very least insist that they rinse the neb with alchol and dry it between meds.

They should know that this is fine if all they have is asthma but CF is so different and this is just not acceptable.

Good Luck!

 

[pjspiegle]

I agree, keep fighting. At the very least you should get one each for each different med being used. For example we get one for the 10% hypertonic, one for the pulmozyme, one for albuteral (if we are doing it via neb instead of inhaled), one for tobi, colistin, or aztreonam (which ever one we are using at the time), etc. and the hospital always marks the nebs as to which is which so that there is no chance of mixing a med with another med. They also rinse them out with sterile water after every use and replace them every 3 days. Then my friend and I wash them in the microwave daily in one of the microwave bags (Quick Clean Micro-Steam Bags by medela; which our CF team provides to us).

Does the CF team know this? I would keep fighting and bring some from home in the meantime.

Now that he uses the eflow, we take that with us and use it even at the hospital now. It is true that you only have one neb for all meds, but with the eflow you rinse it out between meds and swish some alcohol through it and the medal part is stored in alcohol between uses and the entire unit is washed daily.

At the very least insist that they rinse the neb with alchol and dry it between meds.

They should know that this is fine if all they have is asthma but CF is so different and this is just not acceptable.

Good Luck!

 

[pjspiegle]

I agree, keep fighting. At the very least you should get one each for each different med being used. For example we get one for the 10% hypertonic, one for the pulmozyme, one for albuteral (if we are doing it via neb instead of inhaled), one for tobi, colistin, or aztreonam (which ever one we are using at the time), etc. and the hospital always marks the nebs as to which is which so that there is no chance of mixing a med with another med. They also rinse them out with sterile water after every use and replace them every 3 days. Then my friend and I wash them in the microwave daily in one of the microwave bags (Quick Clean Micro-Steam Bags by medela; which our CF team provides to us).

Does the CF team know this? I would keep fighting and bring some from home in the meantime.

Now that he uses the eflow, we take that with us and use it even at the hospital now. It is true that you only have one neb for all meds, but with the eflow you rinse it out between meds and swish some alcohol through it and the medal part is stored in alcohol between uses and the entire unit is washed daily.

At the very least insist that they rinse the neb with alchol and dry it between meds.

They should know that this is fine if all they have is asthma but CF is so different and this is just not acceptable.

Good Luck!

 

[NoExcuses]

ugh that's horrible.

bacteria continue to grow on the nebulizer if they're not sterilized afterwards.

what i do when they won't give me another set of nebs is hide (or throw away) the old set. if they don't give you a new one they're not handling your treatment and they could get in big trouble.

or you could bring a deep fryer and boil the nebs after each treatment. but i prefer the method above.

i use the opportunity to educate <b> everyone </b> i come in contact with regarding what the CF Foundation says regarding sterilization. some Respiratory Therapists or hospital administrators simply don't know about the importance of getting rid of bacteria on nebs. for example, this is not an issue for asthmatics.

if you need to, get an infectious disease doctor to speak to the RT's or hospital administrators about the situation. but you could do the same.

educating others about CF never ends.....

 

[NoExcuses]

ugh that's horrible.

bacteria continue to grow on the nebulizer if they're not sterilized afterwards.

what i do when they won't give me another set of nebs is hide (or throw away) the old set. if they don't give you a new one they're not handling your treatment and they could get in big trouble.

or you could bring a deep fryer and boil the nebs after each treatment. but i prefer the method above.

i use the opportunity to educate <b> everyone </b> i come in contact with regarding what the CF Foundation says regarding sterilization. some Respiratory Therapists or hospital administrators simply don't know about the importance of getting rid of bacteria on nebs. for example, this is not an issue for asthmatics.

if you need to, get an infectious disease doctor to speak to the RT's or hospital administrators about the situation. but you could do the same.

educating others about CF never ends.....

 

[NoExcuses]

ugh that's horrible.

bacteria continue to grow on the nebulizer if they're not sterilized afterwards.

what i do when they won't give me another set of nebs is hide (or throw away) the old set. if they don't give you a new one they're not handling your treatment and they could get in big trouble.

or you could bring a deep fryer and boil the nebs after each treatment. but i prefer the method above.

i use the opportunity to educate <b> everyone </b> i come in contact with regarding what the CF Foundation says regarding sterilization. some Respiratory Therapists or hospital administrators simply don't know about the importance of getting rid of bacteria on nebs. for example, this is not an issue for asthmatics.

if you need to, get an infectious disease doctor to speak to the RT's or hospital administrators about the situation. but you could do the same.

educating others about CF never ends.....

 

[NoExcuses]

ugh that's horrible.

bacteria continue to grow on the nebulizer if they're not sterilized afterwards.

what i do when they won't give me another set of nebs is hide (or throw away) the old set. if they don't give you a new one they're not handling your treatment and they could get in big trouble.

or you could bring a deep fryer and boil the nebs after each treatment. but i prefer the method above.

i use the opportunity to educate <b> everyone </b> i come in contact with regarding what the CF Foundation says regarding sterilization. some Respiratory Therapists or hospital administrators simply don't know about the importance of getting rid of bacteria on nebs. for example, this is not an issue for asthmatics.

if you need to, get an infectious disease doctor to speak to the RT's or hospital administrators about the situation. but you could do the same.

educating others about CF never ends.....

 

[NoExcuses]

ugh that's horrible.

bacteria continue to grow on the nebulizer if they're not sterilized afterwards.

what i do when they won't give me another set of nebs is hide (or throw away) the old set. if they don't give you a new one they're not handling your treatment and they could get in big trouble.

or you could bring a deep fryer and boil the nebs after each treatment. but i prefer the method above.

i use the opportunity to educate <b> everyone </b> i come in contact with regarding what the CF Foundation says regarding sterilization. some Respiratory Therapists or hospital administrators simply don't know about the importance of getting rid of bacteria on nebs. for example, this is not an issue for asthmatics.

if you need to, get an infectious disease doctor to speak to the RT's or hospital administrators about the situation. but you could do the same.

educating others about CF never ends.....