Are Those Stethoscopes Clean?
You may be ignoring this common source of pathogens.
Y
ou're
delighted
when you
see your anesthe-
sia providers vig-
orously scrubbing
their hands for a
full 15 seconds.
You can be confi-
dent that those
all-too-common
vectors of disease
are now spotless.
But how many pathogens are still clinging to the stethoscopes hang-
ing from their necks? Or to the stethoscope in recovery — the one
that's about to contact the skin of your next patient?
As healthcare providers, we're frequently reminded of the impor-
tance of hand hygiene. But we hear relatively little about the dangers
posed by the bacteria that hitch rides on stethoscopes. The issue
apparently barely registers a blip in the minds of most providers. At
least, that is, if a recent study is representative. The study, published in
the American Journal of Infection Control, involved 2 hospitalists
who served as secret shoppers at an academic teaching hospital
(osmag.net/no9ddz). They set out to covertly record incidents of
stethoscope hygiene carried out by med students, residents and attend-
ing physicians, as they moved from patient to patient over a period of
one week. The observers documented 169 opportunities for stetho-
scope disinfection. The students and physicians batted zero.
2 2 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E • S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 7
Infection Prevention
Linda R. Greene, RN, MPS, CIC, FAPIC
• DUAL DISINFECTION Think of stethoscopes as part of a hand hygiene bundle. When one's
disinfected, the other should be, too.