Where´s the "right" place for Ventilation Bags?

[Skysurfer]

i am wondering where you put your infants ventilation bags.
Our nursing staff puts them inside the isolette or radiant warmer bed. Mostly you can find them hanging around at the end of the bed (feet). Sometimes the dedicated mask is connected to the bag, sometimes it is put in a different place of the same bed. Our bags and masks are changed every 7 days together with the vent. circuits for infection control.
The rationale for that practice is that most of our nurses believe, that they can find and handle the bags faster and easier as if they were placed outside the beds, attached or clamped on the side of the bed or isolette where one can easily grab them if needed.
Now I would love to know if there are any informations you can provide me with regarding that matter i.e.

• Does this or that vent. bag management affects the development of ventilator associated pneumonias?
• Is the vent. bag management part of any infection control bundle in your countries?
• How do you handle / where do you place your vent. bags and why?

Thank you for your input

Regards Norbert

[rehman_naveed]

In my experience it does not matter whether you put bag and mask in the isolette, on the warmer, outside isolette etc. Causes and pathogenesis for VAP( Ventilator associated pneumonia ) are different.
In my unit , it is kept outside the isolete, in the side on the shelf specially designed for it , in complete plastic wrap.
Regards

[Stefan Johansson]

Our bag&mask is place on a small shelf behind the the incubator/radient warmer.
Every infant has its own set of bag&mask, and the mask has an appropriate size and is connected to the bag.
The bag&mask is seldomly used and I think they are changed every week. If they are used, they are changed every 24h.

[Skysurfer]

Thank you for your fast reply,

@rehman_naveed
From my understandig, there is a link between VAP and the storage of the vent bags. In our case they are often found inside the beds at the foot end. This is the place that often comes in contact with diapers etc... They are often found without their dedicated masks, so the t-piece is contaminated and if a ventilated infant needs to be hand baged, the bacteria etc. are blown right into the lungs of the children...

I had a few replies that told me that the bags are completely wrapped in plastic bags. I think this is a difficult practice, because it takes a time to unwrap them if they are needed quickly... Our Nursing staff has already problems with accepting the fact that they should be kept outside the bed. The time aspect is the bigges concern for them.

Regards Norbert

[Ruth]

Our bags are kept by the oxygen flow meter above the bed. You have to turn on the flow anyway so it is quick to grab the bag. We do not wrap in plastic as this is time consuming to remove. The correct mask is supposed to be attached and cleaned daily. The bag is cleaned and sterilised between patients. I would also suggest using the neopuff(contollede pressure device) as this is the way we are moving to.