Healthcare-associated infections (HCAIs) are a major public health problem. There is also evidence that stethoscope may transfer micro-organisms responsible of HCAIs. The aim is to evaluate the effectiveness of an innovative device for the disinfection of stethoscope membranes. A pilot study with pre/post design was performed between March and April 2015. Ten resident students were enrolled as volunteers. We used an innovative device having a UVC Light Emitting Diode -LED (255-280 nm) for disinfecting the stethoscope membrane. The test stethoscope was used to auscultate 10 points on the chest of the 10 volunteers; each volunteer was examined twice, before and after the UVC disinfection, which took 5 minutes. Colony Forming Unit (CFU) were counted using Petri dishes after incubation at 36_C for 48 h. Descriptive and inference analyses were performed. No cfu were detected in five out of 10 cultures from treated stethoscopes. The other five cases had a mean of 132.6 (SD: 165.1) cfu on untreated tests and a mean of 19 (SD: 23.8) cfu on treated ones. The average cfu reduction between the two groups was 85.7% (P =0.002). This study confirms that bacteria transfer from skin to stethoscopes. Second, the innovative device was able to reduce the amount of bacteria significantly.

Messina, G., Rosadini, D., Burgassi, S., Messina, D., Nante, N., Tani, M., et al. (2017). Tanning the bugs – a pilot study of an innovative approach to stethoscope disinfection. THE JOURNAL OF HOSPITAL INFECTION, 95(2), 228-230 [10.1016/j.jhin.2016.12.005].

Tanning the bugs – a pilot study of an innovative approach to stethoscope disinfection

Messina, G.;Rosadini, D.;Burgassi, S.;Nante, N.;Cevenini, G.
2017-01-01

Abstract

Healthcare-associated infections (HCAIs) are a major public health problem. There is also evidence that stethoscope may transfer micro-organisms responsible of HCAIs. The aim is to evaluate the effectiveness of an innovative device for the disinfection of stethoscope membranes. A pilot study with pre/post design was performed between March and April 2015. Ten resident students were enrolled as volunteers. We used an innovative device having a UVC Light Emitting Diode -LED (255-280 nm) for disinfecting the stethoscope membrane. The test stethoscope was used to auscultate 10 points on the chest of the 10 volunteers; each volunteer was examined twice, before and after the UVC disinfection, which took 5 minutes. Colony Forming Unit (CFU) were counted using Petri dishes after incubation at 36_C for 48 h. Descriptive and inference analyses were performed. No cfu were detected in five out of 10 cultures from treated stethoscopes. The other five cases had a mean of 132.6 (SD: 165.1) cfu on untreated tests and a mean of 19 (SD: 23.8) cfu on treated ones. The average cfu reduction between the two groups was 85.7% (P =0.002). This study confirms that bacteria transfer from skin to stethoscopes. Second, the innovative device was able to reduce the amount of bacteria significantly.
2017
Messina, G., Rosadini, D., Burgassi, S., Messina, D., Nante, N., Tani, M., et al. (2017). Tanning the bugs – a pilot study of an innovative approach to stethoscope disinfection. THE JOURNAL OF HOSPITAL INFECTION, 95(2), 228-230 [10.1016/j.jhin.2016.12.005].
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11365/1008509