BACTERIAL CONTAMINATION OF ANAESTHETISTS HANDS, PERSONAL MOBILE PHONES AND WRIST WATCHES USED DURING THEATRE SESSIONS

Background: Personal items such as mobile phones and wrist watches are commonly used by doctors working in the operation theatre. The hands and personal use items of anaesthetic doctors working in the operation theatre may serve as vectors for transmission of nosocomial pathogens among surgical patients. Our aim was to determine the hand contamination among anaesthetists working in the operation theatre and contamination of mobile phones and wrist watches of anaesthetic doctors. Method: Forty five anaesthetic doctors working in the operation theatres at Colombo South Teaching Hospital and Ratnapura General Hospital were enrolled in the study. Swabs from fingertips, keypads of mobile phones and wrist watches were taken using moist sterile swabs and plated on Mac Conkey and Blood agar plates. The bacteria isolated were identified by biochemical tests. Results: Hand washing was performed by 60% (n=27/45) doctors entering the theatre. 95% (n=43/45) brought their mobile phone to the theatre and 78.5% used it at least once during the theatre session. A wrist watch was worn by 71% (n=32/45) of the anaesthetic doctors working in the theatre. Bacterial growth was detected from 84% wrist watch swabs, 71% fingertip swabs and 70% mobile phone swabs. Staphylococci were predominantly cultured from all three specimens tested. MRSA was isolated from 22% of swabs taken from fingertips, 15% mobile phones and 25% wrist watches respectively. Methicillin sensitive Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA) was isolated from 33%, 46.5% and 37.5% swabs from fingertips, mobile phones and wrist watches respectively. Coagulase negative Staphylococci was isolated from wrist watches (15%) and fingertip specimens (2%). 29% fingertip swabs and 30% mobile phone swabs did not show bacterial growth. Conclusion: Personal use items of doctors such as mobile phones and wrist watches show a high percentage of bacterial contamination. Hand washing compliance was moderate among the study population. Thus personal use items and hands may act as an important source of nosocomial pathogens in the Sri Lankan operation theatre settings. Therefore it is important to encourage higher compliance to hand washing practices and routine surface disinfection of personal use items brought to the operation theatre. Key words: bacterial contamination, nosocomial infections doi: 10.4038/slja.v17i1.409 Sri Lankan Journal of Anaesthesiology 17(1) : 11-15 (2009)