PROFESSION

Keyboards latest culprit in hospital infections

Experts say physicians are not cleaning their hands as often as they should.

By Damon Adams, AMNews staff. May 2, 2005.

First it was neckties. Now it's computer keyboards that have been identified as nesting grounds for germs that could be spread to patients.

A new study says potentially harmful bacteria can survive on computer keyboards and keyboard covers up to 24 hours, a threat to hospital patients as more institutions implement electronic systems and bring technology to patients' bedsides.

The findings come on top of research showing that white coats, stethoscopes, pens and even neckties are among germ carriers in a doctor's everyday world.

Physicians say the computer keyboard discoveries are another reminder that doctors should be mindful of what they might take with them when they see their next patient.

"We touch a lot of things and don't consciously think about the effect of touching things and what we carry around," said Lawrence Brandt, MD, chief of gastroenterology at Montefiore Medical Center in Bronx, N.Y.

In the new study, Gary A. Noskin, MD, and his colleagues studied three types of bacteria commonly found in hospital environments: vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. They contaminated computer keyboards and keyboard covers with the bacteria and examined the germs' ability to survive on both surfaces.

Researchers found that VRE and MRSA could survive up to 24 hours after being put on keyboards and covers. PSAE was found to live up to an hour on keyboards and up to five minutes on covers, according to study findings presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America held in Los Angeles in April.

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