Contamination of mobile communication devices of healthcare workers and nosocomial infections : a systematic review

Abstract

Background: Nosocomial infections contribute significantly to both mortality and morbidity of patients. Apart from bringing additional suffering to patients, nosocomial infections create heavy financial burden to the healthcare industry. In order to maintain patients’ quality of life and control healthcare expenses, preventing nosocomial infections is of great importance. Today, mobile phones are widely used in the healthcare industry. However, they are rarely disinfected and often touched during or after physical examination of patients, which could harbour various pathogenic bacteria and hence promoting nosocomial infections.

Objective: To review different studies on the common micro-organisms isolated on healthcare workers’ mobile phones, to investigate the relationship between contaminated mobile phones and nosocomial infections, and to suggest public health implications tailored to the clinical environment of Hong Kong. Methods: The literature search was conducted between February and July 2016, covering papers published from 2006 to 2016. Studies were searched in PubMed and Medline using the following search strategy: ‘Cell Phones’ [Mesh]) AND ‘Health Personnel’ [Mesh] AND ‘contamination’. Only studies in English with free full text were included. The quality of the studies was critically appraised for methodological rigor and validity by a three-point scale (A: Good, B: Average and C: Unsatisfactory) based on the checklist from Strengthening the report of observational studies in epidemiology (STROBE). Result: A total of 1801 samples were taken. More than half of the samples were cultured with micro-organisms. The most commonly cultured micro-organisms is Coagulase negative Staphylococci (CoNS), followed by Staphylococcus aureus. Conclusion: Cross-contamination of bacteria between mobile phones and hands of healthcare workers increases the risk of spreading nosocomial pathogens. As healthcare workers travel to different units within the hospital, there is an increased risk of spreading of nosocomial pathogens to patients who are at high risk of infection, such as patients in burn unit and intensive care unit, hence causing nosocomial infections. Proper hand hygiene practice and disinfection of mobile phone are suggested to prevent the reduction of effectiveness of hand hygiene in preventing nosocomial infections.