The Germ-carrying Status Of Mobile Phones And The Disinfection Effect In The Municipal Hospitals Of Chongqing

BackgroundNosocomial infection is both a global public health problem and a difficult point for hospital management,which may exert heavy financial burden on individuals and states.Some studies have found that China's nosocomial infection cost direct economic loss of more than 10 billion yuan annually.A large number of studies have shown that the hands of health care workers can lead to the occurrence of nosocomial infections.As frequently-used new media terminals,the bacteria on the surface of mobile phones may contaminate hands,resulting in nosocomial infection.A survey showed that 88% health care workers used mobile phones in their workplaces,in which more than 60% used mobile phones in diagnosis and treatment activities.Some researchers have found that the bacterial contamination rate on mobile phone surface was 40% to 100% in health care workers.A variety of bacterias were detected from the mobile phones,many of which caused nosocomial infection commonly,such as Acinetobacter baumannii,Klebsiella pneumoniae and Staphylococcus aureus,etc.On the surface of mobile phones,the separation rate of MRSA,VRE was even as high as 10%.A systematic retrospective study found that only 8% of health care workers often cleaned their mobile phones,while another survey found that only 21.9% of the participants often clean the phones.For the methods used to clean and disinfect mobile phone surfaces,most health care workers prefer to choose alcohol wipe.Objective1.To understand the status of mobile phones use and the bacteria on surface of mobile phones in municipal hospitals in Chongqing and to explore the influencing factors so as to provide the basis for formulation of nosocomial infection control strategies.2.To observe and evaluate the disinfection effect of different cleaning and disinfection methods on mobile phones,so as to provide convenient and effective mobile phone cleaning and disinfection methods for health care workers to prevent the possibility of nosocomial infection caused by the mobile phone as a medium.Methods1.One hundred and eleven health care workers were randomly selected from the key departments of 24 municipal hospitals in Chongqing to carry out questionnaire survey,site observation,and mobile phone sample collection.The samples were collected by swab smear method,and the bacterial colonies were counted and the bacteria were isolated and identified.The factors influencing the use behavior and the germ-carrying status of mobile phone were analyzed.2.Ninety health care workers' mobile phones were divided into three groups.Hand disinfectant,75% alcohol and ordinary wipe were used to clean and disinfect the mobile phones' surface and the effects were compared.Results1.The survey showed that 99.10% of the health care workers used smart phones,and 65.77% of them used the mobile phones more than 2h every day.24.32% of the people used mobile phones in diagnosis and treatment activities and some people were using the mobile phones in the aseptic operation.32.43% of them had the habits of cleaning and disinfection mobile phone regularly.In those who had cleaned their mobile phones,75.00% chose to wipe the phones with alcohol.Totally,95.50% of the health care workers thought that the phones should be regularly cleaned and disinfected and 53.13% of people thought that the use of mobile phones should be limited during working.2.The results showed that the qualified rate of mobile phones was 80.18% and the pollution rate was 95.50%.The median number of colonies was 2.90(0.65,6.70)CFU / cm2,and the maximum amount of bacteria was 111.60 CFU / cm2.The detection rate of pathogenic bacteria or conditional pathogens was 39.64%.The higher detection rate was evidenced for Staphylococcus epidermidis(11.71%),Pantoea(5.41%),Acinetobacter baumannii(3.60%),Staphylococcus caprae(3.60%),Staphylococcus haemolyticus(3.60%)and Staphylococcus xylosus(3.60%).3.Age,gender,and occupation were the influencing factors of mobile phone use behavior or attitude.Age,gender,occupation,mobile phone use frequency and whether to use the phone shell/set were the influencing factors of bacteria on surface of mobile phones.4.The numbers of colonies on mobile phones after hand-disinfectant,75% alcohol and ordinary wipes were significantly reduced.The bacterial clearance rates of the three groups were 96.87%,90.30% and 62.31% respectively.The cleaning effect of the first two was better.Conclusion1.The qualified rate of the surface of mobile phones used by health care workers in municipal hospitals in Chongqing was high,but the presence of a variety of potential pathogenic microorganisms and the behavior that some people still using the telephones in the aseptic operation will increase the risk of nosocomial infection.2.The application of hand disinfectant or 75% alcohol to wipe the phone surface regularly can effectively remove the bacteria on phones,thereby reduce the possibility of nosocomial infection caused by mobile phone.