Physician accessories: Doctor, what you carry is every patient′s worry?
oleh: Pandey Anita, Asthana Ashish, Tiwari Rupesh, Kumar Lalit, Das Anupam, Madan Molly
| Format: | Article |
|---|---|
| Diterbitkan: | Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications 2010-10-01 |
Deskripsi
<b>Background:</b> 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. <b>Materials and Methods:</b> 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. <b>Observations:</b> 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. <i>Staphylococcus</i> spp. was the predominant isolate followed by <i>Escherichia coli.</i> Methicillin resistance in <i>Staphylococcus aureus</i> was also found, which was a matter of concern. <b>Conclusions:</b> Awareness of appropriate hand hygiene is important in order to prevent potential transmission to patients.