BACTERIAL CONTAMINATION OF MOBILE PHONES OF HEALTH CARE WORKERS IN A TERTIARY CARE HOSPITAL

Vaibhavi Subhedar; Rohit Subhedar; S pipliya; Sudhir Kumar Jain

Volume : V, Issue : VIII, August - 2015

BACTERIAL CONTAMINATION OF MOBILE PHONES OF HEALTH CARE WORKERS IN A TERTIARY CARE HOSPITAL

Vaibhavi Subhedar, Rohit Subhedar, S Pipliya, Sudhir Kumar Jain

Abstract :

INTRODUCTION: ( AN EMERGING CHALLENGE) Hospital acquired infections(HAI) caused by multidrug resistant(MDR) bacteria are an emerging challenge in many health care institutions.Mobile phones being expensive and conveniently small in size are used by doctors and HCW’s in hospitals for immediate communication during emergencies in rounds, and even in OT’s and ICU’s. The mobile phones of HCW’s may harbour many harmful pathogens which can serve as reservoir for nosocomial infections. Further, shå of mobile phones between HCW’s and non HCW’s may directly facilitate the spread of potentially pathogenic bacteria to the community. OBJECTIVES: To investigate the rate of bacterial contamination of mobile phones of HCW’s and their role in transmission of infectio and spectrum of contaminating bacteria on mobile phones. MATERIALS AND METHOD: In this study a random sampling of mobile phones of 141 HCW’s was carried out from various areas of hospitals like OPD’s, wards ,ICU’s, ICCU’s, OT’s and laboratory. Swabs were collected and processed by standard techniques. RESULTS:– Bacteriological analysis revealed that out of total 141 samples 108 (76.56%) mobile phones were contaminated with various microorganisms. Out of 108 positive samples, 75(69.44%) were Staphylococcus aureus(MRSA 35.18%,MSSA 34.26%), 14.81 were Staphylococcus epidemidis,28.70%Moraxella sp, 29.63% Aerobic sporing bacilli, 1.85% Micrococcus Sp,Acinetobacter sp and Psedomonas sp and 9.92% Klebsiella sp. 43 of 108(39.8%) mobile phones were contaminated with bacterias responsible for causing serious HAI’s .Maximum colonization of bacteria were found in mobile phones of doctors(78.68%) and nurses (75.55%). CONCLUSION:– Our study reveals that mobile phones of HCW’s may get contaminated by pathogens which cause severe hospital infections and may serve as a vehicle of transmission of both hospital and community acquired bacterial diseases.