Preparing for an operation

[Preop]

Im having a knee replacement soon and have been told to change bedding and PJs daily for 5 days in advance of the operation. This is on top for applying nasal gel twice daily and washing body/hair with hospital-supplied antiseptic wash everyday. Is this normal?

I have never done this as it’s overkill. Just wash with the stuff they give you.

Clean pjs are a must anyway but not bedding daily.

Yes totally normal. They can't risk any contamination from your skin getting into the new joint.

That's madness. I wouldn't be able to wash and dry the two sets of bedding I have quick enough to do that. What happened to the stuff they make you wash with and then you know proper scrubbing in in theatre which Includes patient preparation.

My aunt was told the same thing. Buy a couple of cheap sets of bedding from primark if you need to, and donate them to charity if needed.

I didn’t have this but I had to bathe with a liquid added to kill skin bacteria so I’d imagine it’s for same reason and to prevent infection from surface of the skin

Yes, I’m sure it’s to prevent bacteria, but changing bedding everyday is a lot. I guess I’ll need to ban the dog from our bed too!

*prevent infection

It’s interesting how different hospitals have different rules. For my knee op I was just told to have a shower the night before, nothing else. For my gallbladder op I was told to shower the morning of the op and not to shave anything for a week before! Both recent ops.

100%! My aunt was told it’s because it’s a spinal block being used, not a GA - of course that might be different for you

Well within the realms of normal, especially if you’ve got MRSA on a swab. If the dog really does share the bed they absolutely need evicting. An infected prosthesis can be completely catastrophic and they are really careful about pre-op prep - there’s more to it than just sloshing antiseptic about on the day. (Doi: anaesthetist)

Absolutely nothing to do with the type of anaesthetic….literally everything gets blamed on ‘the anaesthetic’ but skin prep is definitely for surgical reasons!

That’s what she was told, because it’s going in via her spinal column. No idea if it’s right or not

Sounds like something may have got lost in translation. We don’t usually insist on new bedsheets and all that jazz just to do a spinal (we’d never do any spinals /epidurals on labour ward or on the trauma list or a whole bunch of other places if that were the case).

I’ll be having a spinal - and will be moving to a bed the dog can’t get to from this pm. I was told I would have to do this before they took the swabs so it seems precautionary to me.

I had surgery last year and wasn't told anything like this?! I wasn't having a spinal bock - but did have GA. I had shoulder problems so simply would not have been physically able to change bedding daily!
I was told to shower on the morning prior to going in though.- wasn't given any special washes though.

Who told you this? All you need to do is wash the night if paranoid, definately the day of the Op with Hispol (the red antibacterial liquid soap). Hair as well

Sorry missed the dog bit. No way in the bed for a good month. And the night before.

senior nurse at the hospital at my pre-op appointment. It’s all explained in one of the many pamphlets she gave me.

I’ve had 3 (cancer) surgeries in the past year and have 2 more to go end of this year and have been through many pre-ops. Never been told anything like this. Even when I had non-NHS private surgeries in the past. But I’ve never had a joint replacement, so perhaps that explains it. At most, was told to have a shower before coming to hospital (as wouldn’t be able to have another for some time) and to remove nail polish.

If that’s what they told you to do, you do it

My DH had a knee replacement about three years ago and I think he might have been given something to shower with beforehand, it rings a distant bell. But he wasn't told anything about changing bed clothes and while I am not a dog, I was in the same bed. Nobody told me to have extra showers ;)

That seems a lot, when I had my knee replacement 3 months ago I had to wash the night before and in the morning with the antiseptic soap liquid and I had to isolate for a few days before the op in case I picked up Covid or anything else. I’d been checked out for MSRA and other nasties before at my pre op appointment. So three months on and no infections

@roundthebends please tell me it was worth it! I am dreading the pain.

I’ve had a replacement I was never told this , obviously be clean and remove nail varnish- I went back to work two weeks after and it was the best thing I’ve ever had done back to all my Bootcamp’s and trampoline

@Rosalind1971 Two weeks? Good grief! You must be Wonder Woman.