Physician accessories: doctor, what you carry is every patient's worry?
BACKGROUND
Nosocomial infections are on the rise worldwide and many a times they are carried by the health care personnel. Accessories used by physicians and healthcare personnel can be a potential source of nosocomial infection.


METHODS
We designed a survey with the aim to investigate the prevalence of microbial flora of accessories such as pens, stethoscopes, cell phones and white coat used by the physicians working in a tertiary care hospital.


METHODS
It was observed that 66% of the pens, 55% of the stethoscopes, 47.61% of the cell phones and 28.46% of the white coats used by the doctors were colonized with various microorganisms. Staphylococcus spp. was the predominant isolate followed by Escherichia coli. Methicillin resistance in Staphylococcus aureus was also found, which was a matter of concern.


CONCLUSIONS
Awareness of appropriate hand hygiene is important in order to prevent potential transmission to patients.
Department of Microbiology, Subharti Medical College, Swami Vivekanand Subharti University, Meerut - 250 002, UP, India. sideyedoc@yahoo.com
Anita
A
Pandey
Ashish K
AK
Asthana
Rupesh
R
Tiwari
Lalit
L
Kumar
Anupam
A
Das
Molly
M
Madan
D001419:Bacteria / Q000145:classification* / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D003428:Cross Infection / Q000517:prevention & control; D004783:Environmental Microbiology; D006235:Hand Disinfection / Q000592:standards; D006801:Humans; D017053:Infection Control / Q000379:methods; D017757:Infectious Disease Transmission, Professional-to-Patient / Q000517:prevention & control; D010820:Physicians