Journal
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF INFECTION CONTROL
Volume 42, Issue 7, Pages 807-809Publisher
MOSBY-ELSEVIER
DOI: 10.1016/j.ajic.2014.03.017
Keywords
Stethoscopes; Microorganisms load; University hospital
Funding
- Department of Microbiology, School of Medicine, University of Patras
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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. Copyright (C) 2014 by the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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