It all comes down to implementation! Those at VCU know that I have been saying this over and over and over, sounding much like a broken record.
Chlorhexidine patient bathing only works if done correctly, as summarized in this paper. The authors utilized a calorimetric assessment tool to assess chlorhexidine concentrations on patient skin following a chlorhexidine bath. The intervention was education of nursing and patients along with monitoring and feedback of bathing performance. Detection of chlorhexidine on patient skin went from a baseline of 46% to 88% following the intervention.
Perhaps there are easier ways to measure completion of chlorhexidine bathing in hospitalized patients. Considerations include product consumption analyses and assessment of bathing documentation in the electronic medical record. These methodologies unfortunately do not measure detectable chlorhexidine concentrations in the skin. Challenging.
It all comes down to implementation.
