National Academy of Agricultural Sciences (NAAS)
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PRINT ISSN : 2319-7692
Online ISSN : 2319-7706 Issues : 12 per year Publisher : Excellent Publishers Email : editorijcmas@gmail.com / submit@ijcmas.com Editor-in-chief: Dr.M.Prakash Index Copernicus ICV 2018: 95.39 NAAS RATING 2020: 5.38 |
The transmission of infections in the hospital (nosocomial infections) from contaminated medical and non-medical devices is a major problem Medical devices and non-medical devices such as stethoscopes, sphygmomanometers and mobile phones play an important role as vehicles and sources of infection. To determine the level of bacterial contamination of medical and non-medical devices used by Health Care Workers (HCW) in a tertiary care hospital. To study the antibiotic susceptibility pattern of the isolates. 150 swab specimens(stethoscope -50, sphygmomanometer –50 and mobile phones -50) handled by Health Care Workers were collected, processed and the isolates were identified. The isolated organisms were subjected to antimicrobial susceptibility testing with Kirby Bauer disc diffusion method as per CLSI Guidelines. 150 devices were tested for the presence of pathogenic microorganisms. Out of which 31 of them contained nosocomial pathogens.11 out of 50 stethoscopes, 12 out of 50 mobile phones and 8 out of 50 Sphygmomanometer were found to be positive for nosocomial pathogens. Many of the isolated pathogens were resistant to commonly used drugs like cotrimoxazole, gentamycin and ciprofloxacin. 21% of the 150 (medical and non-medical) devices used by the health care workers contained nosocomial pathogens. This study highlights the importance of stethoscopes, mobile phones and sphygmomanometer as reservoirs of resistant nosocomial pathogens and the associated risk of transmission of nosocomial infections to the patient and to the health care providers themselves. Hence regular screening and development of effective preventive strategies such as regular decontamination of the devices with disinfectant to reduce the burden is of utmost necessity.
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