Dear colleagues,

I wanted to know what your local practices are in cleaning the cranial sonogram probe(transducer) between patients? Cranial sonograms are a routine procedure in all NICUs and I was wondering if there is an infection transmission risk while using the probe on multiple patients without cleaning the probe between procedures.

We always disinfect before and after use with topical disinfectants.

http://www.cdc.gov/hicpac/Disinfection_Sterilization/17_00Recommendations.html (I would say 4.b applies in this case)

As mentioned in the CDC recommendation it is unclear if this is sufficient if stained with blood or multi-resistant germs.

Thank you for the excellent resource. Very helpful.

We always clean the probe between patients.

Please note that some alcohols may damage the probe's plastic surface.

We are adviced (from the manufacturer) to us an isopropanol-based desinfectant.