Over the past few years Perrigo has been listening the voices of front line staff and have gone to great lengths to ensure their chlorhexidine antiseptic is vividly coloured to distinguish it from other solutions for injection. Within Australia their product has recently received TGA approval.
They produce 2 colours
– red which stains the skin to indicate placement
– pink which doesn’t stain the skin for those who don’t want skin staining.
It comes in both 0.5 and 2% concentrations.
If your hospital purchases poorly distinguishable versions of chlorhexidine eg Pfizer’s tinted pink chlorhexidine and alcohol I would strongly recommend you request they stop obtaining it.
It is very hard to distinguish from saline and other colourless solutions and has been accidentally injected on numerous occasions into patients causing morbidity and mortality.
No conflict of interest other than wanting a better environment for patient care.
More information in this post.