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Published on: June 7, 2017
Effectiveness of stringent decontamination of computer input devices in the era of electronic medical records and
Shlomi Codish1, Ronen Toledano2, Victor Novack2
1Clinical Research Center, Soroka University Medical Center, Be'er-Sheva, Israel; Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Be'er-Sheva, Israel; Hospital Division, Clalit Health Services, Tel Aviv, Israel.
Abstract:
Bedside computing may lead to increased hospital-acquired infections mediated by computer input devices handled immediately after patient contact. We compared 2 decontamination methods in 2 types of wards. We found high baseline contamination rates, which decreased following decontamination, but the rates remained unacceptably high. Decontamination was more effective in intensive care units compared with medical wards and when using alcohol-based impregnated wipes compared with quaternary ammonium-based impregnated wipes.
