Bacterial contamination of medical devices in a Greek emergency department: impact of physicians' cleaning habits.
We investigated the bacterial contamination of physicians' stethoscopes, electrocardiography machines, cardiac monitors, and pulse oximeters, as well as physicians' self-reported cleaning habits in the emergency department of a university hospital. Among 100 devices evaluated (stethoscopes included), 99% developed a positive bacterial culture. Coagulase-negative staphylococci predominated (80.3%). Only 13% of physicians reported cleaning their stethoscope after each patient examination; multinomial regression analysis found less contamination on those stethoscopes (P < .001). Studies on the implementation of hygiene measures are needed.
Department of General Practice, University Hospital of Patras, Patras, Greece.
Eleftheria
E
Fafliora
Department of General Practice, University Hospital of Patras, Patras, Greece.
Vasileios G
VG
Bampalis
Department of Internal Medicine, University Hospital of Patras, Patras, Greece.
Nikolaos
N
Lazarou
Department of General Practice, General Hospital of Mesologgi, Mesologgi, Greece.
George
G
Mantzouranis
Department of Microbiology, School of Medicine, University of Patras, Patras, Greece.
Evangelos D
ED
Anastassiou
Department of Microbiology, School of Medicine, University of Patras, Patras, Greece.
Iris
I
Spiliopoulou
Department of Microbiology, School of Medicine, University of Patras, Patras, Greece. Electronic address: christof@med.upatras.gr.
Myrto
M
Christofidou
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000818:Animals; D001419:Bacteria / Q000145:classification / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D058491:Bacterial Load; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital; D004864:Equipment and Supplies / Q000382:microbiology*; D005260:Female; D006115:Greece; D006184:Habits; D006785:Hospitals, University; D006801:Humans; D017053:Infection Control / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010820:Physicians
Microorganisms load; Stethoscopes; University hospital