Use of a 1-piece chlorhexidine gluconate transparent dressing on critically ill patients.

BACKGROUND: New transparent dressings with chlorhexidine gluconate in the dressing are available. OBJECTIVES: To compare the effectiveness of a new 1-piece occlusive dressing that incorporates chlorhexidine gluconate with that of a dressing plus a chlorhexidine gluconate patch in maintaining the low rate of catheter-related bloodstream infections in the intensive care unit and to evaluate nurses' satisfaction with and cost of the new dressing. METHODS: A quality improvement observational study was done in an adult medical-surgical intensive care unit. All patients with a central venous catheter had initial and/or subsequent dressing changes done with the new dressing. The central catheter bundle elements of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement were followed. Patients were monitored for catheter-related bloodstream infections, and the rate of infection was calculated. RESULTS: During the study period of 1881 device days, the infection rate was 0.051 per 1000 device days, compared with a rate of 0.052 in 2008. Nurses preferred the new dressing. Cost savings were $3807. CONCLUSION: A low rate of catheter-related bloodstream infections can be maintained, nurses' satisfaction achieved, and cost savings realized with the new dressing.

Treating dry skin and pruritus with a bath oil containing soya oil and lauromacrogols.

The efficacy and safety of a bath oil containing soya oil and anti-pruritic lauromacrogols have been demonstrated in experimental and clinical studies. In order to generate more efficacy and safety-related data on the day-to-day use in paediatric practice, a post-marketing surveillance study has been conducted. More than 3500 patients--the vast majority (61.4%) aged 0-4 years--were included in this investigation. Atopic eczema was diagnosed in 86.4% of the cases. The average duration of treatment was 42 days. The results confirm that the anti-pruritic bath oil is both well-tolerated and effective in treating dry and itchy skin diseases. The sum score of symptoms decreased during the treatment period from 7.21 to 2.71 mean score points. The physicians assessed the global efficacy in 89.4% of the cases as 'very good' or 'good'. Anti-pruritic properties of the combination were rated 'very good' or 'good' in 84.3%. The local tolerability was stated to be 'good' or 'very good' in 96.8% of the patients. In total, only 10 out of the 3566 patients, 0.28% respectively, experienced discomfort.Moreover, the physicians estimated that the bath oil therapy helped to reduce therapeutics like steroids in nearly 60% of patients. The potential to reduce use of external steroids and other specific therapeutics is also of particular relevance from a pharmacoeconomic point of view.