Idiot PHN Bags Notes

2The bag contains the fundamental content for a home visit. It includes supplies that promote a
comprehensive assessment when an unexpected situation arises. The bag offers immediate access to
infection control supplies such as those needed for handwashing and barrier protection. Throughout its
history, the bag has also been noted for providing a means of recognizing the nurse in the community.
However, the practice of utilizing a nursing bag has decreased.

3The nursing bag has been a tool used by visiting nurses in the United States since public health
nursing’s inception as a field of practice in the early 1900s.

Nurses packed their bags before leaving for a day of home visits,

tailoring the contents to the types of visits to be made.

“after much experimentation evolved a district nurses’ bag which seems quite complete”.

Public health nurses, under the guidance of Lillian Wald and Mary Brewster,

stocked their leather bags with towels, thermometers, and dressings,

along with an array of medicines to be dispensed.

Contents were spelled out in some detail:

“One three-ounce bottle for alcohol;

five one-ounce bottles containing respectively

listerine, whiskey, glycerine, tincture of green soap and carbolic acid, ninety-five percent;

one wide-mouthed bottle with a screw-top …”

4Outstanding students at Memorial Hospital Training School, Richmond, Virginia were given a nursing
bag and outfit at graduation (Training School Notes, 1905). The bag became an integral part of the
district nurses’ image as reflected in C. Keith’s remarks in 1905: “They come to know the nurse, they
know her face, and the bag she carries.” Use of the nursing bag became routine and was therefore
featured in promotional literature. Many of the photographs of early public health nurses show the bag,
either being carried by the nurse or open and in use in the home.

5Proper bag technique for infection control, introduced in a 1956 article included distance of bag from
client, use of newspaper as a barrier, and an emphasis on handwashing.

In 1961, a public health nurse explaining how to provide more effective shigellosis control to families
used the contents of her nursing bag to demonstrate handwashing and specimen management

A self-instructional unit, Nurse’s Bag Technique, was published by UCOM Educational, Inc. in Rochester,
New York, in 1970 to allow public health nurses and student nurses to learn appropriate bag technique
based on the principle of asepsis and to understand the use of the basic equipment in the nurse’s bag
(Sullivan and Weber, 1970).

12Posey and her colleagues produced an instructional video, The Nursing Bag, that was marketed across
the country to over 400 schools of nursing and homecare agencies in the mid-1980s with a second
edition released in 1991. A viewing guide provided sample written procedures for nursing bag technique
and the care of the bag along with a self-test to assure that viewers met the instructional objectives
(Posey, Aaltonen, and DePalma, 1985). Similar to the UCOM self-instructional booklet published in 1970,
the video allowed students and nurses to independently acquire necessary knowledge about use of the
nursing bag. It emphasized the importance of the bag in providing necessary equipment to carry out a
home visit and in carrying out the practice medical asepsis, including routine handwashing. A number of
agencies identified an increased focus on handwashing and infection control in accreditation standards
as a motivation to purchase the video.

Homecare nurses’ use of handwashing, placement of a barrier to separate the nursing bag from the
patient environment, and clean up of the area once the visit activities are completed are viewed as a
means of protecting clients from infections (Scheet, 1995). While handwashing is viewed as the single
most important factor in preventing the spread of organisms in hospitals, the importance in homecare is
less clear related to a lack of data.

Davis and Madigan (1999) question how safe the nursing bag is when used as means for infection
control. They indicate that multiple-drug resistant organisms (MDROs) such as vancomycin-resistent
enterococcus (VRE) and methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) are becoming more
prevalent in the community setting. These organisms can be spread by a healthcare worker’s hands or
equipment. Davis and Madigan (1999) suggest that bag technique policies and procedures should be
modified to include precautions for those at risk for MDRO infections. These precautions would include
leaving the nurse’s bag in the car when visiting high-risk homecare patients and leaving disposable
supplies such as thermometers, blood pressure cuffs, and stethoscopes at the patient’s residence.

19ZEPHIRAN Sanofi Benzalkonium Chloride

Topical Antiseptic

Antisepsis of skin and mucous membranes and as a disinfectant in surgery, obstetrics and gynecology,
urology, ophthalmology, otorhinolaryngology and general practice. Also may be used as a disinfectant
for hospital utensils and other environmental surfaces and for disinfection and storage of ampuls,
thermometers, metal instruments and catheters.

Contra-Indications: Incompatible with soap and anionic detergents. Use in occlusive dressings, casts and
anal or vaginal packs is inadvisable, as they may produce irritation or chemical burns.
Antiseptics such as benzalkonium chloride aqueous solutions must not be relied upon to achieve
complete sterilization, because they do not destroy all bacterial spores and certain viruses, including the
etiologic agent of infectious hepatitis, and they may not destroy M. tuberculosis and other rare bacterial
strains.

Adverse Reactions: Hypersensitivity may be exhibited rarely.

Aromatic ammonia spirit is used to prevent or treat fainting.

Fainting may be caused by some kinds of medicine, by an unpleasant or stressful event, or by a serious
medical problem, such as heart disease. Fainting in an older person is often more serious than fainting in
a younger person. Older people and people with a history of heart problems should seek medical
attention as soon as possible after fainting.

Aromatic ammonia spirit is available without a doctor's prescription.

Acetic acid is used as an antiseptic due to its antibacterial qualities

Medically, acetic acid has been employed to treat cancer by its direct injection into the tumour. Apple
cider vinegar

21Imagine performing Physical examination without the need to stress yourself counting for the very
minute sounds of the heart tone and feeling the bouncing of the pulse. Capillary refill and oxygenation
will be monitored at the same when using pulse oximeter. Fetal heart tone will be easily counted with
the aid of a portable 3MHz probe fetal doppler heart beat pocket. And if you are more adept in using it,
it could easily aid you in assessing abnormal abdominal sounds, heart sounds like bruit and murmur and
even respiratory sounds of the baby which of course can be assessed also using stethoscope.

22Imagine a nearly collapsing patient due to status asthmaticus during home visit and you don’t have
emergency drugs available, the use of turbo inhaler with spacer would greatly help. Turbohaler are
usually steroidal inflammatory drugs that helps in emergency treatment of patient with asthma. The
spacer could be easily soake in disinfectant to avoid cross contamination among clients. Phisoderm
liquid will limit the possibility of the PHN bag getting wet like using bar soap. Remember that wet
surface aid in the multiplication and replication of microorganisms. Glucometer is a life saving diagnostic
tool of clients with diabetes. Rather than taking long time of conducting benedict test and acetic acid
test in checking presence of glucose in urine the use of glucometer will help in rapid response by
knowing if the patient is suffering from hypoglycemia or hyperglycemia, and of what will be the
intervention of the nurse. Remember that hypoglycemia is a much priority between the two condition.