Germiest Things in Hospitals and Doctor’s Offices
Elevator Buttons
Hands
Waiting Rooms
Stethoscopes
Flowers and Plants
Lab Coats
Ultrasound Equipment
Phones
Beds
Privacy Curtains
Tray Tables
Pens
Floors
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SOURCES:
CDC: “Clean Hands Count for Safe Healthcare,” “Guidelines for Environmental Infection Control in Health Care Facilities,” “Science Brief: SARS-CoV-2 and Potential Airborne Transmission.”
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences: “The airborne lifetime of small speech droplets and their potential importance in SARS-CoV-2 transmission.”
Journal of Clinical Microbiology: “Sustained Reduction of Microbial Burden on Common Hospital Surfaces through Introduction of Copper.”
American College of Physicians: “How (and why) to clean a stethoscope.”
Mayo Clinic: “MRSA Infection,” “Staph Infections.”
American Journal of Infection Control: “Bacterial contamination of health care workers' white coats,” “Differential laundering practices of white coats and scrubs among health care professionals,” “Are hospital floors an underappreciated reservoir for transmission of health-care associated pathogens?”
Science: “The most dangerous germs in the hospital may be those you bring with you.”
Clinical Microbiology and Infection: “Bacterial colonization on writing pens touched by healthcare professionals and hospitalized patients with and without cleaning the pen with alcohol‐based hand sanitizing agent.”
Antimicrobial Resistance and Infection Control: “A randomized trial to evaluate a launderable bed protection system for hospital beds,” “Bacterial contamination of frequently touched objects in a tertiary care hospital of Pokhara, Nepal: how safe are our hands?”
Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology: “A quantitative approach to defining ‘high-touch’ surfaces in hospitals,” “Contamination of hospital curtains with healthcare-associated pathogens.”
University of Minnesota Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy: “Resistant microbes commonly found on hospital privacy curtains.”
Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion: “Encouraging Patients to Speak Up for Clean Hands.”
Pediatrics: “Infection Prevention and Control in Pediatric Ambulatory Settings.”
Journal of Infection Prevention: “To assess the stethoscope cleaning practices, microbial load and efficacy of cleaning stethoscopes with alcohol-based disinfectant in a tertiary care hospital.”
NT Research: “Flowers in the clinical setting: Infection risk or workload issue?”
The American Journal of Medicine: “What to wear today? Effect of doctor’s attire on the trust and confidence of patients.”
Journal of Intensive Care: “Bacterial contamination of inanimate surfaces and equipment in the intensive care unit.”
The Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal: “Mucormycosis outbreak associated with hospital linens.”
The Journal of Hospital Infection: “Survival of Acinetobacter baumannii on bed rails during an outbreak and during sporadic cases.”
Scripps Health: “Tips to Avoid Catching a Bug at the Doctor’s Office.”