Are Stethoscopes, Coats, and Pagers Potential Sources of Healthcare Associated Infections?

Harbir S Arora; Deepak Kamat; Swati Choudhry; Basim I Asmar; Nahed Abdel-Haq

doi:10.1177/2333794X20969285

Are Stethoscopes, Coats, and Pagers Potential Sources of Healthcare Associated Infections?

Glob Pediatr Health. 2020 Oct 29:7:2333794X20969285. doi: 10.1177/2333794X20969285. eCollection 2020.

Authors

Harbir S Arora^{1

2}, Deepak Kamat³, Swati Choudhry⁴, Basim I Asmar^{1

2}, Nahed Abdel-Haq^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Children's Hospital of Michigan, Detroit, MI, USA.
² Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, USA.
³ UT Health Sciences Center San Antonio, San Antonio, TX, USA.
⁴ Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA.

Abstract

We conducted a study to determine the rate of bacterial colonization of stethoscopes, coats, and pagers of residents at a pediatric residency training program as compared to that of badges, sleeves, and pagers of non-patient care staff (control group). Among 213 cultures obtained from 71 residents, 27 potential pathogens were isolated from 22 residents (27/213, 12.7%) as compared to 10 potential pathogens out of 162 samples obtained from 54 control participants (10/162, 6.2%) (P = .0375). The most common pathogen isolated from residents and control participants was methicillin sensitive Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA). The source of positive cultures among the residents was the stethoscope (8/22, 36.3%), pager (8/22, 36.3%), and coat sleeve (11/22, 50%). The rates of colonization with potential pathogens were higher among residents than control participants and about 12% of residents' stethoscopes, coats and pagers were colonized with bacterial pathogens. These are potential sources of nosocomial transmission of pathogenic organisms.

Keywords: Stethoscope; coat; healthcare associated infections; pager.