Mobile phones of paediatric hospital staff are never cleaned and commonly used in toilets with implications for healthcare nosocomial diseases

• Published in: Scientific reports 2021-06, Vol.11 (1), p.12999-12999, Article 12999
• Main Authors: Olsen, Matthew, Lohning, Anna, Campos, Mariana, Jones, Peter, McKirdy, Simon, Alghafri, Rashed, Tajouri, Lotti
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 692/499; 692/700; Bathroom Equipment - virology; Cell Phone - instrumentation; Cellular telephones; COVID-19 - prevention & control; COVID-19 - virology; Cross Infection - prevention & control; Cross Infection - virology; Delivery of Health Care - methods; Disinfectants; Disinfection - methods; Emergency Service, Hospital; Female; Hand Hygiene; Health care; Hospitals; Hospitals, Pediatric; Humanities and Social Sciences; Humans; Intensive Care Units, Neonatal; Male; Medical personnel; multidisciplinary; Nosocomial infection; Pediatrics; Personnel, Hospital; Risk Factors; SARS-CoV-2; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Self Report; Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; Toilets; Workers
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-92360-3

An ever-increasing number of medical staff use mobile phones as a work aid, yet this may pose nosocomial diseases. To assess and report via a survey the handling practices and the use of phones by paediatric wards healthcare workers. 165 paediatric healthcare workers and staff filled in a questionnaire consisting of 14 questions (including categorical, ordinal and numerical data). Analysis of categorical data used non-parametric techniques such as the Chi-squared test. Although 98% of respondents (165 in total) report that their phones may be contaminated, 56% have never cleaned their devices. Of the respondents that clean their devices, 10% (17/165) had done so with alcohol swabs or disinfectant within that day or week; and an additional 12% respondents (20/165) within that month. Of concern, 52% (86/165) of the respondents use their phones in the bathroom, emphasising the unhygienic environments in which mobile phones/smartphones are constantly used. Disinfecting phones is a practice that only a minority of healthcare workers undertake appropriately. Mobile phones, present in billions globally, are therefore Trojan Horses if contaminated with microbes and potentially contributing to the spread and propagation of micro-organisms as per the rapid spread of SARS-CoV-2 virus in the world.