Sterile Bandage procurement HOW do I do it

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I'm now getting to the real boring and uncool part of my preps. We decided to stock enough meds and dressings for a moderate burn case. I've found a source for non sterile dressings and Want to sterilize them.What I was going to do was to repack them from their bulk packing into small paper bags. I'm then going to bake them in a 300 degree oven for 90minutes.I then plan to put them into a steel amminition can. I still would like an easy way of "claving" the plastic IV setups but I have no access to an ETO sterilizer.

So I've got 3 questions.

1. How many pounds of dressings should I put up.(20% burns 2nd Degree)

2. Will the Baking of the dressings be long enough.

3. Other than an alcohol bath what are good substitutes for etheylene oxide(ETO).

-- nine (nine_fingers@hotmail.com), March 23, 1999

Answers

Look into Aloe Vera Gel and Intrasite Gel. The former is good for mild burns such as sunburns etc. The latter is great for rehabilitating more severe burns. It's used on burn patiens to encourage healing, breakdown of necrotizing tissue, and promote healthy, living tissue growth.

I don't know if you need a perscription for Intrasite and it may need to be refrigerated.

-- Alison Tieman (fearzone@home.com), March 23, 1999.


I wish I could help you with the sterile dressings, but I don't know. However, if you IV setups are packaged they SHOULD be sterile already. Since the autoclaves work on heat and pressure, I wonder if you could use a pressure cooker. I have a bunch of sterile in one pound packages so hadn't really thought about it. Let me "dig" a bit and see what I can come up with.

-- Taz (tassie@aol.com), March 23, 1999.

1) Pressure cookers do do the job i just forget how long.

2) Baking for 90 is OK but temp should be higher, closer to 400, I think.

3) get some Silvadene (sp aprox) for burns. This is the standard burn Unit ointment. Also, I kid you not, get some Dreft, which is a mild detergent. this is what is used in the burn Units for the debriding washes, those lovely times that morphine is made for, if you are seriously burned.

Sorry about the equivocation on 1 and 2 but.....

chuck

-- Chuck, a night driver (reinzoo@en.com), March 23, 1999.


Chuck, Can you explain in layman terms about using Dreft,please.

-- Chris (griffen@globalnet.co.uk), March 23, 1999.

Thank you all for the inputs. I used silvadyne when I got my hand rebuilt. And Yes scrubbing scabs makes me cringe. Lots to do and damn little time to do it in. Again thanks.

-- nine (nine_fingers@hotmail.com), March 24, 1999.


Chris,

In burn units Dreft is the detergent of choice for debriding the burns. to debride a burn, you wash with a surfactant bath (in this case Dreft) which helps to break down the surface tension of teh fluid (water) and which enables teh water to soften the scabs (dried clots) on the surface of teh burns. these are also dried plasma which pretty constantly weeps from SERIOUS burns.

This is SERIOUSLY PAINFUL and is one reason anyone who has had long term in-hospital treatment for extensive, serious burns (1+ months) can quite honestly say they have been addicted to a narcotic, as we DO give enough morphine to generate a physical addiction. We tend to do this for a couple of reasons:

1) The patient is MUCH more comfortable, particularly if the burns are 2nd degree (partial thickness for you current purists), as the pain from one of these is intense, and unrelenting.

2) It's a LOT quietter on the burn ward, which has positive mental health and attitude effects for the other patients. (not to mention the comfort level of the nurses and tech's on the ward)( And you thought I was being insensitive and/or facetious?)

Since we know we have generated an addict, we also plan on the withdrawl program (slow weaning usually) as part of the course of treatment. We NEVER discharge an unweaned patient. We ALWAYS explain teh new danger of re-addiction.

Chuck, who has actually MET Dr. Fratiane, the deity of burn care, at the MetroHealth Burn Unit

-- Chuck, a night driver (reinzoo@en.com), March 24, 1999.


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