[nabs-l] Sanitizing canes for use in hospitals
Ryan Silveira
ryan.l.silveira at gmail.com
Mon Aug 24 21:04:56 UTC 2015
Hello,
Thank you for your e-mail. I am currently on vacation and will return on the 7th of September, 2015. I will periodically check my e-mail, but please do not expect an immediate response. Thank you very much.
Ryan L. Silveira
חיים אהרן בן אברהם
On Aug 23, 2015, at 4:36 PM, Elizabeth Mohnke via nabs-l <nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> Hello Kaiti,
>
> Thank you for providing this explanation of how music therapy is beneficial
> in the pre-op and post-op settings. I can definitely understand how music
> therapy can be useful in the pre-op setting, but I fail to understand how it
> is useful in the post-op setting. If most people are like me, any additional
> noise while waking up from surgery would not be welcomed regardless of how
> soothing it may be. If you are interested in working with people after
> surgery, I would also encourage you to consider working in a rehabilitation
> facility or in patients homes after they are released from the hospital as
> this is where the real recovery from surgery generally takes place.
>
> Here is a brief description of my experience in a hospital setting. In 2011
> I was seriously injured in an accident, and I spent a week in a hospital out
> of state before I was allowed to come back home. Since my accident, I have
> had two different out-patient orthopedic surgeries performed in 2013 and
> 2014. The hospital where I live is a simple bus ride, and I do my best to
> visit people I know when they are in the hospital. My most recent visit was
> to visit someone who received an in- patient orthopedic surgery about three
> months ago.
>
> I also have experience visiting a cancer patient during various
> hospitalizations between 2008 and 2013. During the summer of 2013, I would
> visit this person every other day until the patient was transferred to a
> hospital that was further away. The level of care this person received
> ranged from a simple private room for neutropenic patients with stable
> conditions to one of the highest levels of the intensive care unit at a
> major notable university hospital.
>
> While there was always some kind of protocol I had to follow when visiting
> this individual, these protocols never included doing anything with my
> cane. However, after reading your post, I can understand how washing or
> sterilizing my cane would have been helpful for this situation, and I will
> do my best to remember this when visiting hospital patients with compromised
> immune systems in the future. Hopefully I have provided you with enough
> information regarding my experience in a hospital setting without annoying
> everyone else on the email list. Again, I would be more than happy to
> explain my experience in more detail privately if you feel this would be
> helpful for you as a music therapist interested in working in a hospital
> setting.
>
> Warm regards,
> Elizabeth
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nabs-l [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Kaiti Shelton
> via nabs-l
> Sent: Tuesday, August 18, 2015 2:23 AM
> 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
>
> Elizabeth,
>
> I'll put this on the list just so others might better understand the purpose
> of working in the preop/postop setting as an MT and why the issue is
> important there, however I may be contacting you off-list because until
> recently I had very little experience in hospitals that I remembered. Most
> of my personal experiences happened as a toddler and I only vaguely remember
> my last eye surgery I had at age 4.
>
> Music Therapy is growing within hospitals, and has especially been
> recognized for its helpfulness in pediatric hospitals. In the preop setting
> it can be used to help a child (or an adult if warranted) relax. A trained
> music therapist knows how to use music to distract a patient from their pain
> or decrease their anxiety. This can be done by having the patient listen to
> soothing music with or without verbal instruction for relaxation, using the
> music to change aspects of the physiology like to bring down a fast heart
> rate/steady breathing, or to distract a child while nurses are starting an
> IV or performing other tasks. In postop it can be used to address pain or
> to help a patient remain calm if they tend to be anxious/upset. While I've
> seen more literature on use in preop situations, I am interested in the
> possibility of doing postop work, too.
>
> On 8/15/15, Elizabeth Mohnke via nabs-l <nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> Hello Kaiti,
>
> Can you please explain how you see yourself working as a music
> therapist in the pre-op and post-op setting? As someone who has
> first-hand experience with the pre-op and post-op experience as it
> relates to having surgical procedures, I do not understand how a music
> therapist would work in this type of setting.
>
> However, working in the pre-op and post-op setting is completely
> different than working in any type of intensive care unit. The type of
> scrubs used for these two settings are different and are made out of
> different types of materials. If you are looking for something
> disposal to use for your cane, I would suggest contacting the national
> office to enquire about obtaining the long plastic bags they use when
> shipping canes. I believe something like this would work for your
> situation.
>
> I would be more than happy to share my specific experience being in a
> hospital as well as visiting people in the hospital off list as I do
> not believe it would be appropriate to share this information on the
> email list.
>
> I hope this leads you in the right direction in finding a solution to
> your specific 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: Saturday, August 15, 2015 6:00 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 all,
>
> I think that in certain situations you would put on booties with
> scrubs for full protection, but it is specific. I just feel like I
> need to be prepared for any situation in my career, especially if I
> work in preop and postop like I would like to do.
>
> Changing the cane tips would be to prevent tracking unwanted
> substances that might spill onto the floor to other places. E.G,
> blood, spilled meds, vomit or other liquids. It would be an extra
> step because the cane tip would be most likely to touch these things
> on the floor, I would think.
>
> The biggest challenge would be getting disposable things in mass
> quantities so I am prepared to have a stock of them. If I get them
> made with a cloth of some sort like scrubs it wouldn't be hard to ask
> someone who makes medical stuff to sew them propperly for cheap, but
> the disposable ones would be more of a challenge. I'd need something
> that's at least 56 inches long to go over my cane.
>
> On 8/13/15, Elizabeth Mohnke via nabs-l <nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 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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> --
> 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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