[nabs-l] Sanitizing canes for use in hospitals

Elizabeth Mohnke lizmohnke at hotmail.com
Fri Aug 14 03:10:11 UTC 2015


Hello Kaiti,

I have never thought of sanitizing my cane when visiting someone in the
hospital before. If you could find some kind of plastic tubing, I think that
would probably work. If I remember correctly, the scrubs I have seen people
throw away in ICU units are plastic like aprons that tie in the back. So I
think your plastic tubing should work just fine.

However, I am a bit confused about changing out cane tips though. I would
consider this to be the same as changing one's shoes when visiting different
patients in different rooms. From what I can recall, I have never seen this
as any kind of protocol when working with high risk  patients before. If
anything, I would think you would want to sterilize the part of the cane
that you touch rather than the part that touches the floor as this would be
the part of the cane that would most likely come in contact with the
patient.

I have visited someone in ICU several times, and this was never really an
issue. However, I can also understand your concern. I would think the Lysol
wipes would be sufficient for most situations. For the times when the Lysol
wipes are not sufficient, some kind of plastic tubing you can throw away
when you are done visiting the patient should work just fine.

I hope this helps you with your situation.

Warm regards,
Elizabeth



-----Original Message-----
From: nabs-l [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Kaiti Shelton
via nabs-l
Sent: Thursday, August 13, 2015 10:35 PM
To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list <nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Kaiti Shelton <crazy4clarinet104 at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Sanitizing canes for use in hospitals

Hi, Jamie,

This was sort of what I was thinking about.  It would definitely work in
most situations.  The only tricky part will be figuring out something for
those very risky situations.  I know some units have scrubs that are washed,
while ones on intensive care units are just thrown away to minimize spread
of germs in the wash rooms.  I think then getting some sort of plastic
tubing might work, possibly?

I do like the idea of keeping a few cane tips around, or possibly getting
scrub-like covers made for the tip.  I haven't decided how feasible it will
be for me to switch tips if I need to do my job quickly, but it's an option.
The other idea I have since come up with is to just keep multiple canes
around so I have one that stays home from the hospital or at least away from
any of the patients, one that I keep on-hand for everyday cases and those
with minimal protection required (like the little sheet cover), and a third
kept somewhere else that I would just use for special cases with high risk
of contamination and I would clean thurroughly immediately after each use.

I'm still looking for someone who has experience in this, but so far no one
seems to be or know of an authority on the issue.  This has given me ideas,
though, and it probably won't be hard to have covers made.  If I have
several of them ready to go, I can change them out each day.

On 8/13/15, Jamie Principato via nabs-l <nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> One thing you could do is make a sanitary sheath for your cane out of 
> the same material as the scrubs and head/shoe coverings you already 
> use in sterile environments. It would be like a cloth tube that you 
> slide your cane into tip first and tie off at the top of the handle with a
drawstring.
> You'll need to wash it and store it somewhere clean like you would 
> your scrubs, but it would be more convenient than washing the entire 
> cane by hand. You might also consider keeping a clean tip that you 
> only ever use in sterile environments and swapping out tips before washing
your hands.
>
> -Jamie
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
>> On Aug 13, 2015, at 6:08 PM, Kaiti Shelton via nabs-l 
>> <nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
>> wrote:
>>
>> Hi all,
>>
>> I'm hoping to work in a hospital for my job, and recently was there 
>> to visit an ill relative.  It occured to me while I was putting on 
>> gloves and a gown that in some situations I will need to clean my 
>> cane as well.  Music therapists do work in isolated areas on 
>> occasion, and also may work in preop or postop.  In this case, I was 
>> visiting someone who had an infection that could be contageous.  The 
>> idea of washing my hands and scrubbing up, but not sanitizing my 
>> cane, then washing up afterwards and touching the cane again kind of 
>> grossed me out.  Not only could it track in germs from the outside to 
>> the sick person in the room, but it also could transfer anything the 
>> person has back to me.
>>
>> I already do sanitize my cane because I work a lot with kids and/or 
>> elderly people, but in this situation Lysol wipes won't always be 
>> sufficient.  Has anyone had experience with this?  I'm just asking 
>> around and will try the human services division as well.  I've also 
>> asked an Orientation and Mobility Speciailist if he's ever seen this 
>> done.
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>> --
>> Kaiti Shelton
>> University of Dayton-Music Therapy
>> President, Ohio Association of Blind Students 2013-Present Secretary, 
>> The National Federation of the Blind Performing Arts Division 
>> 2015-2016
>>
>> "You can live the life you want; blindness is not what holds you back!"
>>
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--
Kaiti Shelton
University of Dayton-Music Therapy
President, Ohio Association of Blind Students 2013-Present Secretary, The
National Federation of the Blind Performing Arts Division 2015-2016

"You can live the life you want; blindness is not what holds you back!"

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