In a hospital and affiliated long-term care facility, we found that shared wheelchairs
were frequently contaminatedwith healthcare-associated pathogens, including Clostridium difficile spores. A network graph of 851 wheelchair transports over 3days demonstrated frequent
movement between inpatient wards andoutpatient clinics, radiology, and physical therapy.
These results highlight the potential for shared wheelchairs to serve as a vector
for pathogen transmission.
Key Words
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: November 21, 2018
Footnotes
Funding/support: This study was supported by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs.
Conflicts of interest: C.J.D. has received research funding from Clorox, GOJO, Avery Dennison, Boehringer Laboratories, and PDI. The other authors report no conflicts of interest relevant to this article.
Identification
Copyright
Published by Elsevier Inc. on behalf of Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc.
