Highlights
- •Mobile phones have become an extension of our hands; why don't we disinfect phones more often?
- •Mobile phones have been cited as a risk for infectious disease transmission in patient care areas.
- •Nurses’ mobile phones enter patient care areas, but routine disinfection protocols do not exist.
- •This article describes a multimodal intervention to reduce infectious disease transmission.
- •The intervention achieved low-level disinfection of mobile phones in a critical care unit.
Background
Current literature identifies mobile phones of staff as potential vectors for hospital-acquired
infection.
Methods
A pre-post, quasi-experimental study was conducted in a 20 bed intensive care unit
(ICU). Surface bioburden of personal and shared mobile phones was estimated with a
luminometer, expressed in Relative Light Units (RLU). Effects of a simple sanitizing
wipe-based disinfection routine were measured at baseline, and at 1, 3, 6, and 12
months after implementation of the disinfection routine.
Results
Personal mobile phones and shared phones of 30 on-shift ICU nurses were analyzed at
each collection. RLUs for personal phones decreased from baseline to 12 months post-intervention
(Geometric mean 497.1 vs 63.36 RLU; adj P < .001), while shared unit phones also demonstrated a decrease from baseline to 12
months post-intervention (Geometric mean 417.4 vs 45.90 RLU; adj P < .001).
Discussion
No recommended practice yet exists for disinfection of mobile phones in the acute
care setting. The disinfection method and routine used in this study may have implications
for use in acute care settings to reduce opportunities for infectious disease transmission.
Graphical abstract
Graphical Abstract
Keywords
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Article Info
Publication History
Published online: May 12, 2022
Publication stage
In Press Journal Pre-ProofFootnotes
Conflict of interest: We have no known conflicts of interest or relevant financial support to disclose.
Identification
Copyright
© 2022 Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
