Examining the association between surface bioburden and frequently touched sites in intensive care
Adams, C E and Smith, J and Watson, V and Robertson, C and Dancer, S J (2017) Examining the association between surface bioburden and frequently touched sites in intensive care. Journal of Hospital Infection, 95 (1). pp. 76-80. ISSN 1532-2939 (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhin.2016.11.002)
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Abstract
BACKGROUND: Critical care patients are at increased risk of infection. Near-patient surfaces act as reservoirs of microbial soil, which may contain pathogens. AIM: To correlate soil levels with hand-touch frequency of near-patient sites in an intensive care unit (ICU). METHODS: Five sites around each bed in a 10-bed ICU were screened for total microbial soil (cfu/cm(2)) and Staphylococcus aureus every month for 10 months. Selected sites were infusion pump and cardiac monitor, left and right bedrails, and bed table. Ten 1 h covert audits of hand-touch frequency of these sites were performed in order to provide an average hand-touch count, which was modelled against soil levels obtained from microbiological screening. FINDINGS: Seven of 10 staphylococci were found in conjunction with gross contamination of a specific site (P=0.005) and the same proportion from three most frequently touched sites (bedrails and bed table). There was a linear association between four sites demonstrating gross microbial contamination (>12 cfu/cm(2)) and mean number of hand-touch counts (P=0.08). The bed table was handled most but was not the most contaminated site. We suspected that customary placement of alcohol gel containers on bed tables may have reduced microbiological yield. Removing the gel container from one table confirmed its inhibitory effect on microbial contamination after rescreening (19% vs 50% >12 cfu/cm(2): P=0.007). CONCLUSION: Surface bioburden at near-patient sites in ICU is associated with hand-contact frequencies by staff and visitors. This supports the need for targeted hygienic cleaning in a high-risk healthcare environment.
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Item type: Article ID code: 60238 Dates: DateEvent31 January 2017Published13 November 2016Published Online3 November 2016AcceptedNotes: Copyright © 2016 The Healthcare Infection Society. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Subjects: Medicine > Public aspects of medicine Department: Faculty of Science > Mathematics and Statistics Depositing user: Pure Administrator Date deposited: 20 Mar 2017 09:27 Last modified: 03 Dec 2024 03:55 URI: https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/id/eprint/60238