Highlights
- •Disinfection in healthcare facilities typically focuses on high-touch surfaces.
- •Portable equipment has been linked to pathogen transmission.
- •Emerging evidence suggests that floors could also contribute to transmission.
- •Practical approaches are needed to address portable equipment and floors.
Efforts to improve environmental cleaning and disinfection typically focus primarily
on high-touch surfaces in patient rooms. This review highlights evidence that portable
equipment and other shared devices and floors may be underappreciated as sources of
dissemination of health care–associated pathogens. Practical approaches to address
these sites of contamination are emphasized.
Key Words
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Article Info
Footnotes
Funding/support: This work was supported by a Merit Review grant from the Department of Veterans Affairs to C.J.D.
Conflicts of interest: None to report.
Identification
Copyright
Published by Elsevier Inc. on behalf of Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc.
