The impact of a 'milking the COW' campaign in a regional hospital in Singapore.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Computerisation of various processes in hospitals and reliance on electronic devices raises the concern of contamination of these devices from the patient environment. We undertook this study to determine if an attached hand hygiene device that unlocks the screen of a computer on wheels (COW) on usage can be effective in decreasing the microbiological burden on computer keyboards.

Methods

An electronic hand sanitizer was integrated onto the COW. A prospective cohort study with a crossover design involving 2 control and 2 intervention wards was used. The study end point was the number of colony forming units found on the keyboards. Bacteria were classified into 4 main groups; pathogenic, skin flora, from the environment or those thought to be commensals in healthy

SUBMITTER: Pada SKMS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8141142 | biostudies-literature | 2021 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature