Stethoscopes: a study of contamination and the effectiveness of disinfection procedures

Abstract

tethoscopes are universally used by healthcare professionals. They can come into contact with numerous patients and may harbour organisms that can be transferred between individuals. Wycombe hospital has a policy that stethoscopes should be disinfected with a 70% isopropyl alcohol swab after each patient use. A study was undertaken to assess the degree of stethoscope contamination and the effectiveness of the disinfection procedure.

A randomly chosen group of healthcare professionals submitted their stethoscopes for microbiological analysis. A selection of ward-based stethoscopes were also tested. Personal stethoscopes were then disinfected with an alcohol wipe and re-sampled.

All stethoscopes showed bacterial contamination before disinfection, the highest concentration of organisms being seen on doctors' stethoscopes. Skin flora was grown from all samples and 12% grew Staphylococcus aureus. Following decontamination, bacterial levels were greatly reduced, but three contaminated stethoscopes remained heavily colonised even after the disinfection procedure.

Staff need to be made more aware of the need to routinely disinfect stethoscopes correctly between each patient use. The increased placement of bed- or ward-specific stethoscopes needs to be considered.

Keywords

Stethoscopes bacterial contamination disinfection

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