Background: Hands of healthcare workers, and medical surfaces with high-contact chances like mobiles, keyboard, and medical charts are reported to be contaminated by multi-drug resistant bacteria resulting in ICU-acquired infections, a major cause of morbidity and mortality.
Objective: This study was proposed to investigate the bacterial profile on mobile phones, dominant hand, and nares of healthcare workers in intensive care units.
Methodology: Samples were collected from healthcare staff from different intensive care units of Govt Medical College Hospital in Central Kerala. Three samples were collected from each of participants’ mobile phones, dominant hand, and nares. The swabs were transferred to a culture media for isolation and identification.
Results: Out of the total 303 samples analyzed, methicillin-susceptible coagulase-negative staphylococci, methicillin-resistant coagulase-negative staphylococci, methicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and diphtheroids were the most common species. Nares were the most common site of colonization by clinical pathogens (64/64; 100%) followed by hands (17/64; 26.1%) and mobile phones (13/64; 20.38%). In 68.3% of samples the bacteria were possible clinical
pathogens. MRSA was identified from 31.1% (n=61) of the samples from nares, while 15.8% and 12.9% of samples each from mobile phones and hands also showed the presence of possible clinical pathogens.
Conclusion: High rate of bacterial colonization was noted in nares of healthcare workers suggesting that it may act as a reservoir for pathogen
contamination in an ICU setting. Explicit guidelines on the use of phones and infection control practices in the hospital may be of help in controlling infection in a hospital setting
Impact Factor
2022: 6.012
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