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Did you sterilise your stethoscope, doctor?

Did you sterilise your stethoscope, doctor?

Written by Agencies |Updated : February 20, 2014 4:02 PM IST

stethescopeCould the stethoscope that a healthcare worker uses to examine a patient could be a source of additional trouble? Yes, especially for patients who are admitted in intensive care units (ICUs) and wards, i.e. patients with lowered immunity. A study conducted by team of microbiologists at DY Patil Medical College on stethoscopes used by fifty healtcare workers at a city hospital showed that at least 30 colonies of different types of micro-organisms were present on each of these stethoscopes - some of these microbes were drug-resistant bacteria.

While microbiologists say that even in normal atmosphere, microbes are present all around but one needs to be careful in the ICU set-up of hospitals wherein presence of such microbes can worsen the situation for patients. 'It is not alarming to find microbes in stethoscopes, in fact in the medical fraternity, we are aware of the risks. However what happens in ICU's is that firstly patients are immuno-compromised. Secondly the patient is attached with several plastic lines and microbes get attracted to these lines which can lead to a problem. Hence what we recommend is that after inspecting a patient, doctors must simply clean the stethoscope bulbs with spirit,' said micro-biologist Dr Nita Munshi, co-ordinator of Hospital Infection Control Society of Pune. (Read: Good ol' stethoscopes to be replaced by hand-held ultrasound devices?)

Meanwhile a paper has been published in latest issue of journal of DY Patil Medical College authored by Dr Neetu Gupta, assistant professor of microbiology who said that in hospital settings, transmission of infection through contaminated medical devices is always a possibility. 'Stethoscope is the symbol of health professionals. However, the diaphragm and bells of the stethoscopes have been shown to harbor pathogenic and nonpathogenic microorganisms. The study was conducted to determine the degree of contamination of stethoscopes used by clinicians and nurses besides identifying various microbes from such contaminated stethoscopes and to assess their role as potential pathogens,' she said. Doctors also then cleaned the stethoscopes with 70% ethanol solution and again did microbial study to determine effectiveness as a disinfecting agent.(Read: Can stethoscopes make you trust your doctor more?)

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Each stethoscope averaged about 30 number of colonies including presence of 52 pathogenic (disease-causing) microorganisms including Staphylococcus aureus, Acinetobacter species, Citrobacter species, Pseudomonas stutzeri, Bacillus species, and Aspergillus fumigatus. 'The numbers of colonies were highest among the stethoscopes sampled from surgery ward and medical ICU's while those from outpatient departments were the least. The implication of the finding is that stethoscopes could be a vector, playing an important role in the transmission of potential pathogenic microorganisms as well as antibiotic-resistant strains,' said

'There are many documented reports of bacteria being present on stethoscopes. Though not dangerous for the patient, it can become a source of hospital pathogens and help in transmitting them too. They should be wiped with 70percent alcohol or even the routine alcoholic hand rub can be used to decontaminate the stethoscope between consecutive patients,' opined Dr Renu Bharadwaj, head of microbiology at B J Medical College and Sassoon General Hospital.

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Source: DNAsyndicationdna-syndication-logo1

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