Hospital: take only your old stuff- toss it on exit.

My bff on auto bi-pap had a serious operation at a big prestigious hospital in an Icu unit . They told him yes bring your equipment but use your old mask, headgear,hoses , filters and toss them when you leave ,much safer than trying to clean your new ones . I guess all that stuff you have been taking home from your room isn't such a good idea either.
I thought this was good advice and I wanted to pass it on . My 56 year old female doctor just died this spring at the hospital ,mrsa was the final straw with her breast cancer.
Take good care of yourself .

Excellent advice! Thanks for sharing!

Throwing the stuff away is the safest, of course. If you don't discard, you can at least clean/disinfect carefully.

There are instructions in my links in my signature line for disinfection of ResMed masks, hoses, and the dishwashable water tanks.

If you're ready to risk damage, you might try various disinfection methods.

A full clean first.

Then use 90% isopropyl alcohol.

Note that alcohol is highly flammable. It won't kill all germs, especially viruses. It may damage some plastic.

Put it in a sealable container, pour in enough alcohol to not be soaked up completely and shake it around every few hours. Leave overnight, and then dump it out. Let it air dry till the smell is gone. Remember it's still flammable until it dries.

The Control III disinfectant cpap.com sells would probably be better.

I've also "boiled" a lot of CPAP parts when I get used equipment. I boil a large pot of water, turn off the heat, then drop the CPAP parts inside and leave until the water cools. I don't "boil" headgear or any foam parts.

Don't do this on any parts you aren't prepared to throw away if it gets damaged. I've ruined one of the ResMed non-dishwashable tanks. ResMed dishwashable tanks and PRS1 tanks have survived unharmed. No guarantees, the manufacturer may change the plastic at any time. I've never had any problem with mask parts, including silicone.

Hoses may be a problem, including the "short hose" in some masks. ResMed has a procedure for soaking the hose in 70C water for 30 minutes. You'll need to keep heating the water if you try that.

Even boiling water won't kill all germs. I think it works for MRSA.

After doing whatever cleaning you do, let them sit dry and unused for a fairly long period of time. It won't kill everything, but it helps.

Since the "stuff" stays at your bedside, and providing it's placed out of the way during the day... why is there an issue of contamination? Unless someone sneaked in a licked and breathed all over your mask and hose... did I miss something?

Sheriff

Nurses and orderlies and doctors carry bacteria/viruses all over the place all day long. That's why.

It is too bad they don't isolate any new patient until they KNOW he/she is clear of really bad bugs.
Also too bad they can't take a hint from tropical fish care; any new arrivals are quarantined at first,
so the whole tank doesn't get infected.

Sheriff Buford wrote:Since the "stuff" stays at your bedside, and providing it's placed out of the way during the day... why is there an issue of contamination? Unless someone sneaked in a licked and breathed all over your mask and hose... did I miss something?

Sheriff

Because the staff go from one place to another. Cleaning in hospitals can be really bad. It is done by contract and the lowest bidder gets it and to save money they dilute the cleaning solutions and reuse the rags used to clean other parts, so there is a good chance the rag used to wipe your table was just used on someone else's toilet. Bugs are passed along on hands and clothing also.

Using the same rag everywhere: that seems to be SOP at IHOP.
At BK, they insisted on two rags--had to be kept separate, but the spray bottle got every surface.
Not perfect, but at least they tried.

In hospital, after surgery, my cpap was with me in the recovery room where an attendant (nurse?) put it on me while I was still sedated (I thought GREAT service)...who else was in the recovery room, was the attendant wearing fresh gloves ???who knows, I don't. Did I use it again that night ? Yep! Did I think to wipe it down when I got home? Nope. But it's still in its bag, as it is my spare cpap, and I'll do it now.

I think lack of through hand washing is the very worst problem in all hospitals! That's by staff, patients AND visitors! Most infections could be virtually eliminated if everyone thoroughly washed their hands.

The hospitals in the city where I live have hand sanitizer dispensers just inside every entrance/exit and outside every patient room with signs encouraging their use. When my husband was in last March, I saw people ( staff, patients and visitors) not using them all the time!

Nope no way no how. Don't bring anything and don't take anything.

The hospital RT people will set the patient up with a blower and disposable tubing and a mask -- let them do it, and properly, safely dispose of it later.

My father was hospitalized last year during the major flu epidemic. The cheapskate brought the hospital cpap mask and hose home in a bag. I'm like, are you insane bringing this garbage home, and threw it out. I would have incinerated it if I could.

Hospitals are crawling with disease. Use their sterile equipment, and just leave it there.

knightlite wrote:My bff on auto bi-pap had a serious operation at a big prestigious hospital in an Icu unit . They told him yes bring your equipment but use your old mask, headgear,hoses , filters and toss them when you leave ,much safer than trying to clean your new ones . I guess all that stuff you have been taking home from your room isn't such a good idea either.
I thought this was good advice and I wanted to pass it on . My 56 year old female doctor just died this spring at the hospital ,mrsa was the final straw with her breast cancer.
Take good care of yourself .

That's absurd!
If your equipment can get infected then YOU can get infected.
Thoroughly cleaning your stuff when you get home is a good idea, but throwing it away........nonsense.


Den

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knightlite wrote:My bff on auto bi-pap had a serious operation at a big prestigious hospital in an Icu unit . They told him yes bring your equipment but use your old mask, headgear,hoses , filters and toss them when you leave ,much safer than trying to clean your new ones . I guess all that stuff you have been taking home from your room isn't such a good idea either.
I thought this was good advice and I wanted to pass it on . My 56 year old female doctor just died this spring at the hospital ,mrsa was the final straw with her breast cancer.
Take good care of yourself .

Thank you for the information. I appreciate it.

I took my cpap and all to the hospital when I had my brain surgery 9 years ago. Returned home with it 15 days later and have been using it every since. I keep it clean, but certainly wont throw it away...oh and btw, I'm doing much better now.

What were we talking about?

Sheriff Buford wrote:Since the "stuff" stays at your bedside, and providing it's placed out of the way during the day... why is there an issue of contamination? Unless someone sneaked in a licked and breathed all over your mask and hose... did I miss something?

Sheriff

And even worse they may have lickedand breathed on you while you were sleeping. I can't throw me out, others have tried. Jim