Cleaning Your Nebulizer
One of the best things about this meeting has been the really practical information presented. Keeping neb equipment clean was an interesting topic covered by Dr. Gwen Huitt. For inhaled antibiotics (TOBI, colistin, etc.) National Jewish recommends using only a Pari (http://www.pari.com/) neb cup with filter (which is pretty standard, I believe) and the DeVilbiss Pulmo-Aide nebulizer machine, available online at http://www.devilbisshealthcare.com/index.jsp.
Pari neb cups can be boiled for sterilization, but the tubing is another matter. Since people with bronchiectasis are prone to “water” bugs like Pseudomonas and NTMs, it it important that the tubing be kept dry. Dr. Huitt recommends having seven sets of tubing, one for each day of the week. After use, she has her patients jerry-rig a blow drying system for the tubing by taking a standard rubber glove, cutting a slit in one fingertip and inserting one end of the tubing in the slit. A standard hair dryer is then attached to the wrist end of the glove and hot, dry air blown through the glove and into the tubing for one minute. Then leave the tubing in the open air until the next use. Both Dr. Huit and the RT strongly suggested NOT bagging up tubing for storage, but leaving it out in the air.
Some patients have also pulled their neb cup off the tubing at the end of a treatment and allowed the compressor to keep running for several minutes to dry the tubing. This also seems to work, but the hot, dry air of the blow dryer appears to be the most effective at curtailing bug growth.