I am currently looking at actheter related infections and how cleaning the catheter hub is effective in prevention of infection. Does anyone currently use aqueous chlorhexidine or does everyone use alcoholic chlorhexidine despite some manufacturerers not recommending this. We are currently using betadine but recent research is advocating strongly the use of chlorhexidine. Hope someone can help.

We clean only the skin around cath exit site with alcohol and betadine, the cath itself with saline only. However, we are investigating Exsept (tm) by amuchina for both skin and cath clenser, Is there any input for exsept?

Exsept (Amuchina 5%) is safe to use with any catheter material. It has a base of normal saline (isotonic) hence rarely causes irritation to skin with long term use. It is a high potency antispetic which allows you to cut dwell time during dressing to 2 minutes.

I am actually working with the Physician in our clinic to find the effects of Exsept. We are looking for a number of journals with plenty of case studies regarding this situation. I don't know if your center also has the Lifesite access, but we were using Exsept to clean the sites of those patients. Vasca told us to go back to using Hibiclens when cleaning Lifesites because patients are suseptible to infections (we have Lifesite patients with infections, and they are attributing this to the Exsept use). We "do" use the Exsept when cleaning and changing the dressings of our patients with Temporary and Permanent Catheters. The doctor and I are trying to find out if there is a true correlation to infections and the use of Exsept. We previously cleaned catheters with those kits that included sterile packages of peroxide and betadine swabs.