title: Empathy dolls: are they a source of cross-contamination between patients?
abstract: Following a cluster of two patients with identical strains of Clostridium perfringens prosthetic joint infections on an ortho-geriatric ward in a teaching hospital in England, investigations were conducted into infection control practices. It emerged that empathy dolls were being used to help alleviate agitation in dementia patients; this had been introduced without consultation with the infection prevention and control team. Environmental testing of the doll pre and post laundry at different temperatures helped to establish the types and numbers of organisms present. This testing enabled our unit to provide guidance on the optimum strategy for decontamination and safe use of these dolls.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, Sheffield, UK. Electronic address: bmsubramanian@yahoo.co.uk.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Subramanian
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, Sheffield, UK.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Parsons
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, Sheffield, UK.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Finner
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, Sheffield, UK.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Townsend
mesh_terms: D003015:Clostridium Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000635:transmission*; D003016:Clostridium perfringens / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D003428:Cross Infection / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000635:transmission*; D018562:Disease Transmission, Infectious; D004739:England; D004783:Environmental Microbiology; D006801:Humans; D016459:Prosthesis-Related Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000635:transmission*
keywords: Clostridium perfringens; Decontamination; Dementia patients; Empathy dolls; Enterococcus spp.; Hospital laundry; Infection control