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Toys are a potential source of cross-infection in general practitioners' waiting rooms
Eileen Merriman1, Paul Corwin, Rosemary Ikram
1Department of Public Health and General Practice, Christchurch School of Medicine, New Zealand.
Abstract:
The waiting rooms of general practitioners' surgeries usually have toys provided for children. The level of contamination of these toys and the effectiveness of toy decontamination was investigated in this study. Hard toys from general practitioners' waiting rooms had relatively low levels of contamination, with only 13.5% of toys showing any coliform counts. There were no hard toys with heavy contamination by coliforms or other bacteria. Soft toys were far more likely to be contaminated, with 20% of toys showing moderate to heavy coliform contamination and 90% showing moderate to heavy bacterial contamination. Many waiting-room toys are not cleaned routinely. Soft toys are hard to disinfect and tend to rapidly become recontaminated after cleaning. Conversely, hard toys can be cleaned and disinfected easily. Soft toys in general practitioners' waiting rooms pose an infectious risk and it is therefore recommended that soft toys are unsuitable for doctors' waiting rooms.
Insights
Soft toys in doctor
Area of Science:
- Microbiology
- Infection Control
- Pediatric Health
Background:
- Children's toys are common in general practitioners' waiting rooms.
- Assessing toy contamination and disinfection effectiveness is crucial for public health.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the contamination levels of toys in general practitioners' waiting rooms.
- To evaluate the effectiveness of toy decontamination methods.
Main Methods:
- Sampling and bacterial/coliform count analysis of hard and soft toys.
- Observation of toy cleaning and disinfection routines.
Main Results:
- Hard toys showed low contamination; 13.5% had coliform counts, with no heavy contamination.
- Soft toys exhibited higher contamination: 20% moderate-to-heavy coliforms, 90% moderate-to-heavy bacteria.
- Many waiting room toys are not routinely cleaned; soft toys are difficult to disinfect and recontaminate quickly.
Conclusions:
- Soft toys in general practitioners' waiting rooms pose a significant infectious risk due to contamination and difficulty in disinfection.
- It is recommended that soft toys be removed from general practitioners' waiting rooms to mitigate infection transmission.
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