A quasi-experimental study on stethoscopes contamination with multidrug-resistant bacteria: Its role as a vehicle of transmission

Stethoscopes have been suggested to be a possible vector of contact transmission. However, only a few studies have focused on the prevalence of contamination by multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacteria and effectiveness of disinfection training to reduce. This study is to investigate the burden of stethos...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2021-04, Vol.16 (4), p.e0250455-e0250455
Main Authors: Lee, Raeseok, Choi, Su-Mi, Jo, Sung Jin, Han, Songyi, Park, Yun Jeong, Choi, Min A, Kong, Bo Kyung
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Bacteria
Bacterial infections
Biology and Life Sciences
Careers
Contamination
Cross infection
Disease control
Disinfectants
Disinfection
Editing
Education
Enterobacteriaceae infections
Environmental aspects
Health care
Hospitals
Hygiene
Infections
Infectious diseases
Internal medicine
Laboratories
Medical instruments
Medical personnel
Medical schools
Medicine
Medicine and Health Sciences
Microbiology
Multidrug resistance
Multidrug resistant organisms
Nosocomial infections
Nurses
Pathogens
People and Places
Personal hygiene
Physicians
Practice
Prevention
Quasi-experimental methods
Questionnaires
Research and Analysis Methods
Social Sciences
Staphylococcus infections
Stethoscopes
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Summary:Stethoscopes have been suggested to be a possible vector of contact transmission. However, only a few studies have focused on the prevalence of contamination by multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacteria and effectiveness of disinfection training to reduce. This study is to investigate the burden of stethoscope contamination with nosocomial pathogens and multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacteria and to analyze habit changes in disinfection of stethoscopes among healthcare workers (HCWs) before and after education and training. We performed a prospective pre and post quasi-experimental study. A total of 100 HCWs (55 doctors and 45 nurses) were recruited. HCWs were surveyed on their disinfection behavior and stethoscopes were cultured by pressing the diaphragm directly onto a blood agar plate before and after education on disinfection. Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis was performed to determine the relatedness of carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae. Most of the stethoscopes were contaminated with microorganisms before and after the intervention (97.9% and 91.5%, respectively). The contamination rate of stethoscopes with nosocomial pathogens before and after education was 20.8% and 19.2%, respectively. Stethoscope disinfection habits improved (55.1% vs 31.0%; p
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0250455