title: Decontamination of vinyl urinary drainage bags with bleach.
abstract: The purpose of the study described here was to investigate whether vinyl urinary leg and bed bags used for a 4-week period in the acute rehabilitation setting could be safely reused after having been decontaminated daily with a diluted bleach rinse. Rehabilitation patients who had bladder dysfunction and used vinyl urinary drainage bags (N = 88) were randomly assigned to control (C) and experimental (E) groups; 54 patients completed the study. Group C's bags were replaced weekly; group E's were replaced after 4 weeks. The bags of patients in both groups were decontaminated in identical fashion each day. On the patient's admission to the study, a baseline assessment was completed, a urine culture was obtained, and sterile drainage equipment was provided. Each week for 4 weeks, urine and bag characteristics and signs and symptoms of urinary tract infection were noted. No statistically significant differences (p < .5) were found between the groups. There were no clinical signs of infection requiring treatment, no changes in bag appearance or integrity, and no infection outbreaks associated with a single urinary tract pathogen that would indicate cross-contamination.
authors.forename: C M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Dille
authors.forename: K T
authors.initials: KT
authors.lastname: Kirchhoff
mesh_terms: D015169:Colony Count, Microbial; D017046:Cost Savings; D004203:Disinfection / Q000379:methods*; D004866:Equipment Contamination / Q000191:economics / Q000517:prevention & control*; D006801:Humans; D012973:Sodium Hypochlorite; D014546:Urinary Catheterization / Q000191:economics / Q000295:instrumentation*; D014753:Vinyl Compounds
chemical_list: D014753:Vinyl Compounds; D012973:Sodium Hypochlorite