Bacterial contamination of healthcare worker’s mobile phones: a case study at two referral hospitals in Uganda
Hospital and community-acquired infections are escalating and pose significant public health unhealthiness worldwide. The advancements of telemedicine and automation of healthcare records are supported by cellphones, laptops and wearable devices. This study focused on the incidence of healthcare wor...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Taylor & Francis Group
2022-12-01
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| Series: | Global Security: Health, Science and Policy |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/23779497.2021.2023321 |
| _version_ | 1829463707300659200 |
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| author | Fred Tusabe Maureen Kesande Afreenish Amir Olivia Iannone Rodgers Rodriguez Ayebare Judith Nanyondo |
| author_facet | Fred Tusabe Maureen Kesande Afreenish Amir Olivia Iannone Rodgers Rodriguez Ayebare Judith Nanyondo |
| author_sort | Fred Tusabe |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Hospital and community-acquired infections are escalating and pose significant public health unhealthiness worldwide. The advancements of telemedicine and automation of healthcare records are supported by cellphones, laptops and wearable devices. This study focused on the incidence of healthcare workers’ mobile phones becoming contaminated with pathogenic bacteria and their possible roles as vehicles of transmission of antimicrobial-resistant bacteria. A case study at two referral hospitals in Uganda between May and October 2020. Self-administered questionnaires were administered to participants after informed consent. Mobile phones of the participants in different departments of the hospitals were swabbed and samples were collected and transported to the microbiology laboratory for bacterial culture and antimicrobial susceptibility tests. The point prevalence of Healthcare workers’ mobile phone bacterial contamination with one or more species was 93%. Organisms isolated were E. coli 5.6% (1), Micrococcus spp 11.1% (2), Coagulase-negative staphylococci, CoNS, 61.1% (11) and Bacillus spp 22.2% (4). About 45% of the organisms were multidrug-resistant. Resistance was major to penicillin, cotrimoxazole, ciprofloxacin and Gentamicin, respectively. The isolated E. coli was resistant to all antibiotics used in the study. Only 15% (2) of the participants disinfected their phones at least once a week and 8% cleaned their hands after using a mobile phone. Healthcare Workers’ mobile phones can act as fomites for the transmission of multidrug-resistant microorganisms. This study provides strong evidence for developing and strengthening disinfection protocols for mobile phones and does not underscore the importance of hand hygiene in the middle of a patient encounter especially when the HCW grabs a phone but doesn’t re-clean their hands before patient contact. Abbreviations: MDR, Multidrug-resistant; WHO, World Health Organization; IPC, infection prevention and control; HHC, hand hygiene compliance; JMEDICC, Joint Mobile Emerging Disease Intervention Clinical Capability |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-13T13:35:42Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-d24af95bf088400a943a50a34d64086d |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2377-9497 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-13T13:35:42Z |
| publishDate | 2022-12-01 |
| publisher | Taylor & Francis Group |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Global Security: Health, Science and Policy |
| spelling | doaj.art-d24af95bf088400a943a50a34d64086d2022-12-21T23:43:50ZengTaylor & Francis GroupGlobal Security: Health, Science and Policy2377-94972022-12-01711610.1080/23779497.2021.20233212023321Bacterial contamination of healthcare worker’s mobile phones: a case study at two referral hospitals in UgandaFred Tusabe0Maureen Kesande1Afreenish Amir2Olivia Iannone3Rodgers Rodriguez Ayebare4Judith Nanyondo5Infectious Diseases Institute UgandaInfectious Diseases Institute UgandaNational Institute of Health PakistanBarbaricum LLC WashingtonInfectious Diseases Institute UgandaInfectious Diseases Institute UgandaHospital and community-acquired infections are escalating and pose significant public health unhealthiness worldwide. The advancements of telemedicine and automation of healthcare records are supported by cellphones, laptops and wearable devices. This study focused on the incidence of healthcare workers’ mobile phones becoming contaminated with pathogenic bacteria and their possible roles as vehicles of transmission of antimicrobial-resistant bacteria. A case study at two referral hospitals in Uganda between May and October 2020. Self-administered questionnaires were administered to participants after informed consent. Mobile phones of the participants in different departments of the hospitals were swabbed and samples were collected and transported to the microbiology laboratory for bacterial culture and antimicrobial susceptibility tests. The point prevalence of Healthcare workers’ mobile phone bacterial contamination with one or more species was 93%. Organisms isolated were E. coli 5.6% (1), Micrococcus spp 11.1% (2), Coagulase-negative staphylococci, CoNS, 61.1% (11) and Bacillus spp 22.2% (4). About 45% of the organisms were multidrug-resistant. Resistance was major to penicillin, cotrimoxazole, ciprofloxacin and Gentamicin, respectively. The isolated E. coli was resistant to all antibiotics used in the study. Only 15% (2) of the participants disinfected their phones at least once a week and 8% cleaned their hands after using a mobile phone. Healthcare Workers’ mobile phones can act as fomites for the transmission of multidrug-resistant microorganisms. This study provides strong evidence for developing and strengthening disinfection protocols for mobile phones and does not underscore the importance of hand hygiene in the middle of a patient encounter especially when the HCW grabs a phone but doesn’t re-clean their hands before patient contact. Abbreviations: MDR, Multidrug-resistant; WHO, World Health Organization; IPC, infection prevention and control; HHC, hand hygiene compliance; JMEDICC, Joint Mobile Emerging Disease Intervention Clinical Capabilityhttp://dx.doi.org/10.1080/23779497.2021.2023321mobile phoneshealthcare workersreferral hospitals bacterial contaminationuganda |
| spellingShingle | Fred Tusabe Maureen Kesande Afreenish Amir Olivia Iannone Rodgers Rodriguez Ayebare Judith Nanyondo Bacterial contamination of healthcare worker’s mobile phones: a case study at two referral hospitals in Uganda Global Security: Health, Science and Policy mobile phones healthcare workers referral hospitals bacterial contamination uganda |
| title | Bacterial contamination of healthcare worker’s mobile phones: a case study at two referral hospitals in Uganda |
| title_full | Bacterial contamination of healthcare worker’s mobile phones: a case study at two referral hospitals in Uganda |
| title_fullStr | Bacterial contamination of healthcare worker’s mobile phones: a case study at two referral hospitals in Uganda |
| title_full_unstemmed | Bacterial contamination of healthcare worker’s mobile phones: a case study at two referral hospitals in Uganda |
| title_short | Bacterial contamination of healthcare worker’s mobile phones: a case study at two referral hospitals in Uganda |
| title_sort | bacterial contamination of healthcare worker s mobile phones a case study at two referral hospitals in uganda |
| topic | mobile phones healthcare workers referral hospitals bacterial contamination uganda |
| url | http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/23779497.2021.2023321 |
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