What bacteria are lurking on the keypads, earpieces and microphones of the mobile phones patients and their visitors bring into your facility every day? You name the bug, and it's there: Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus, E coli, Enterococcus, Bacillus and the list goes on, according to a Turkish study published in the American Journal of Infection Control.
People spend countless hours each day pawing their mobile phones to make calls, send messages, take photos and more, so perhaps it's no surprise that these devices are becoming breeding grounds for bacteria. But while previous research has focused on healthcare workers' cell phones, there has been little investigation into the infection risk posed by the phones of patients, companions and other visitors to healthcare facilities.
Researchers in Malatya, Turkey, decided to put these devices to the test in a cross-sectional study of cultures taken from 200 mobile phones belonging to both healthcare workers (67) and patients and visitors (133) at the Inonu University Turgut Ozal Medical Center. They detected bacterial growth on about 9 out of 10 cell phones taken from patients and visitors and on 85.6% of phones from medical personnel. Coagulese negative staphylococci were the most frequently isolated bacteria in both groups.
Patients and visitors had significantly higher rates of pathogenic bacteria colonized on their mobile phones than the healthcare workers did. Seven of the phones in the patients and visitors group had multidrug resistant bacteria present, compared with none of the phones in the healthcare worker group.
"Although there is still no study that evidently shows the link between bacterial colonization on the [mobile phones] and [hospital acquired infections], the presence of a pathogen in hospital environment is principally considered as a potential threat for infection development," write the researchers. "In addition to medical personnel, infection control professionals must consider patients' [mobile phones] as a potential source of infection."
They note that mobile phones are difficult to disinfect because they are sensitive to both liquid and heat. However, the authors suggest a few ways facilities can get around this problem and prevent some of the potential infection risk: limiting the use of mobile phones "in certain high-risk areas," using ultraviolet radiation to disinfect mobile phones, and applying silicon covers to protect phones from liquid disinfection products, such as alcohol wipes.
What's your facility's policy on cell phone use by patients and visitors? Tell us in the comments.
Irene Tsikitas
