Excuse me, is that MRSA on your neck?

So after my last post about expecting the unexpected, I was reminded about leaving personal equipment in my car. My four year old grabbed my stethescope, which I apparently had flung into the back seat after an exhausting day, and started playing with it. Granted, he was using it properly, which made me both proud and absolutely terrified at the same time. Nonetheless, after watching him for a minute, I suddenly got this overbearing sense of fear, looked into the rearview mirror to confirm what I'd seen, and shouted "Get that off of you!" It was sufficiently loud enough to cause my wife to cover her ears and give me "the look." You know the one I mean.

I realized that my son was playing with a potentially infectious object. Granted, I try to be cautious with my medical instruments, cleaning them when possible and tossing when not. Considering the recent uptick in respiratory emergencies cropping up (tis the season to be sniffling), I realized not only was the bell of my scope carrying potentially dangerous materials, but while being around the coughing, hacking, and sneezing (oh my!), there was a good chance there were particles all over the tubing as well.  In the heat of everything, I couldn't recall whether I'd wiped the scope after my last shift.

We all know that regular, frequent handwashing helps keep the spread of diseases down. But how often do you clean your stethoscope? How often do your colleagues, the RN that just took your report, or the doctor that walked in to asses the tube placement clean theirs? Your scope should be cleaned after every patient contact. If not, the potential for spreading potentially fatal diseases is considerable. Don't limit your cleaning to just the scope. The handles of your trauma shears, penlight/flashlight, and any other re-usable equipment you touched during that patient contact should also be wiped clean prior to using again.

In New York State, the Department of Health's Bureau of EMS issued a policy statement in 1998 allowing agencies to place limits on what equipment individual providers can carry and use. It states that "Services may issue their members/employees certain items of EMS
equipment such as penlights, stethoscopes, and blood pressure cuffs, or may permit
members/employees to carry their own similar equipment." Okay, so what's the issue?

It goes on to say "Any service which issues or permits the use of personal equipment by its members/employees must have written policies in effect which clearly define which items of equipment are personal issue, and the responsibility of each member/employee for the availability, cleanliness and operational condition of each item when on duty. The service may limit what equipment members/employees may carry." For those who were waiting fo the italics to end, it essentially says that both the service and individual are responsible for maintaining their equipment. And remember...with responsiblity comes liability. Though it is probably near impossible to determine the origin of a community-acquired infection, remember that taking a few extra minutes to ensure the cleanliness of your equipment can save you a lot of trouble in the future.