Set of activities performed by the nurse to provide patients with latex allergy a safe and effective latex-free environment, avoiding their exposure to latex, within the hospital.
Objectives:
– Identify the allergic patient or with associated risk factors. – To offer the patient a latex free environment, identifying and eliminating latex objects from their immediate environment. – To avoid the appearance of an allergic reaction and/or anaphylaxis. – Provide the patient and relatives with indications on everything they can use safely (material, diet, drugs, etc).
Equipment:
– Necessary and latex-free equipment, for the management of a possible acute anaphylactic reaction. – Stopping trolley, with a specific section for latex-free material and correctly identified. – General list of prohibited material and alternative recommendations.
Material:
– Patient identification bracelet. – All the material necessary to be used with the patient, at any given time, must be latex-free. – Latex-free disposable gloves. – Premedication recommended in patients allergic to latex, before surgery. – Nursing records
Procedure:
– Identification of the allergic patient with an identification bracelet. – Individual room, indicating with a sign on the door that the patient is allergic to latex and substituting the objects that may contain latex (mattress, pillows and furniture in general) for other alternatives and if this is not possible, avoiding direct contact. – Check the labeling, the composition of the products. – Establish an adequate diet free of certain vegetables (bananas, pineapple, kiwi, melon, pomegranate, chestnut, tomatoes, potatoes, etc.) to avoid cross-reactions between latex and other food antigens. – Healthcare and non-healthcare personnel in direct contact with the patient should be alerted and should not wear latex on their personal items (watch straps, hair bands, clogs, etc.). – Avoid direct contact with products containing latex in their composition. In case there is no alternative, interpose a gauze, sheet, etc. (gauze pads, tension sleeves, etc.). – When injectables are used, do not pierce the rubber stopper with the needle. – Have specific medication ready in case an anaphylactic reaction is triggered.
Observations:
– We must remember that latex is a very ubiquitous product, and precisely for this reason it is very difficult to guarantee a total absence of latex in the nearby environment. – In pediatric units, silicone pacifiers and teats can be used as a preventive measure. – In case of needing to move around the hospital, the patient should wear his own latex-free gloves and an adrenaline auto-injectable. – In case of surgery, specific rules must be followed, since the operating room is the place where the patient is most exposed to latex. For this purpose, any operating room should be converted into a latex-free operating room, following a protocol of adequacy. * Administer the recommended premedication for these patients, according to the protocol of the center. * These patients should be scheduled first thing in the morning, with the protocol appearing on the operating room scheduling sheet. – Primary prevention should be guaranteed, avoiding contact with latex products, when there is a continuous and repeated exposure to latex (children with spina bifida, myelomeningocele, urological congenital malformations, etc.).
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