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Good morning all,
I am looking for some advice or direction as to how other facility’s use and manage heat packs.
We have quite a few residents with longstanding musculoskeletal pain over the winter. We have a gel type that we wipe down after each use, but it appears that they are too permeable for this practice to be acceptable.
What is the best way to clean these if they are semipermeable? Does anyone else use a washable sleeve? or an alternative?
Which brand are other facilities using?
Thankyou in advance for your insights 🙂
Kind regards,
Victoria.Hi Victoria,
Rather than ‘share’ heat packs between residents why not assign one to each resident who requires one. This then negates the need for cleaning.
Kind regardsLouise
Hi Victoria,
Best practice would be single resident use – i.e. resident has their own.
When this is not possible there may be a local guideline to reflect on: below are a couple of examples with directions on how to manage, cover and clean hot packs.
Manufacturer’s instructions would guide the cleaning practice, but here is a recommendation from the WA guide:
Following use, clean with a pre-impregnated disposable neutral detergent wipe or if cleaning and disinfection is required e.g. for patient under transmission precautions, use a pre-impregnated disposable detergent and disinfectant wipe.Re pack cover/protection: WA guide – Hot and cold packs must be used with a cover and are not to be applied directly to the skin. NSW guide: Hot packs must not be placed on direct contact with the patients’ skin. Wrap the heat pack in a disposable wipe or special purpose non-woven pouch (e.g. Livingstone). Alternatively, wrap hot pack in two towels and place in pillow slip to prevent burns.
Hope this helps.
Regards Carrie
Hi
We have just purchased plug-in electric heat packs. They are machine washable and we use a pillow slip to protect against skin.
This was mainly to reduce the risk of burns. Our Qual team is just in the process of developing policy around the cleaning and use. Im assuming if we wash between resident s they are then decontaminated for next resident. They are fabric.
I will be following for ideas.
Kind regards
Fiona
