Ultrasound probes

block education patient safety regionalanaesthesia ultrasound ultrasoundprobes Oct 23, 2023

Ultrasound is great for helping anaesthetists find veins, arteries and nerves. 👏👏

What does the assistant need to know about the probes? 🤔

👉🏻 Which probe is best?

Vascular access and nerve blocks are suited to a LINEAR, HIGH FREQUENCY probe. This means it has a flat surface and will have a number ranging from 10 to 16 Mhz.

👉🏻 Do I need a sterile cover?

That’s the million dollar question! Always check your local guidelines, however, ultrasound procedures can be divided into 3 categories:

1️⃣ Non-critical (only touching completely intact, healthy skin)
2️⃣ Semi-critical (may contact broken skin, blood or mucous membranes)
3️⃣ Critical (enters sterile body cavities)

This determines how the probe should be protected, cleaned and sterilised. Semi-critical and critical procedures should involve a sterile probe cover, your hospital may also mandate probe covers for non-critical procedures – make sure you check!

👉🏻 How do I clean it?

1️⃣ Use a dry cloth to remove gel & debris
2️⃣ Clean the probe and cable with a detergent solution that is approved by the manufacturer
3️⃣ Send for high-level disinfection if indicated

Check out @the_anzca guidelines on infection control for more information. You can find it in the educational links in our bio. 🤓 (Please note: this image is a demonstration only without actual needling of skin)

Build knowledge ✅
Improve safety ✅

Ref: https://d1fdloi71mui9q.cloudfront.net/nUJsAmkUTFCexnwapFzV_PG28(A)-Infection-control-2015.pdf?utm_source=hoobe&utm_medium=social

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