- (Note - It was determined several years ago that
pencils and pens used by doctors and health care workers are also prime
vectors of spreading pathogens to patients.)
-
-
- WESTPORT, CT (Reuters Health)
- Computer keyboards and faucet handles in medical intensive care units
are potential reservoirs of nosocomial pathogens, study findings
suggest.
-
- Dr. Joel T. Fishbain and colleagues, from Tripler Army
Medical Center in Honolulu, Hawaii, collected 144 environmental samples
from 10 computer keyboards in 8 patient rooms, 1 nurses' station and 1
doctors' station, as well as from 8 pairs of faucet handles in the
hospital's
medical ICU. Samples were collected over eight collection periods in a
2-month period.
-
- In occupied rooms, 26% of keyboards and 15% of faucets
were contaminated, Dr. Fishbain and colleagues report in the American
Journal
of Infection Control for December. In unoccupied rooms, the rates were
17% and 0%, respectively.
-
- In the 33 environmental isolates obtained from these
samples, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) was the most
frequently occurring pathogen, followed by Enterococcus, Enterobacter and
other gram-negative rods. In the 14 patient isolates, MRSA was again the
most frequently occurring pathogen, followed by Enterobacter and other
gram-negative rods.
-
- The researchers detected an indistinguishable strain
of MRSA in two patients, as well as on the keyboards and faucets in their
rooms and on keyboards throughout the ICU.
-
- "Institutional policy changes should occur to help
minimize the potential effects of this contamination," the researchers
conclude. Since the study was conducted, Tripler Army Medical Center has
installed plastic covers on keyboards in the ICU, which are cleaned daily.
In addition to reinforcing existing guidelines about handwashing, the
hospital
plans "to replace all faucet handles with noncontact controlled sinks
in all critical care units."
-
- Am J Infect Control 2000;28:465-470.
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