The introduction and use of mobile devices at the point of care presents numerous opportunities to increase clinical productivity, improve quality of care and directly impact patient safety among others; however these tools also present a significant new challenge in the control of germs and hospital-acquired infections.
Physicians or nurses may contaminate mobile devices such as smart phones and tablets at the bedside while simultaneously using medical instruments to examine or treat patients, provide medications or by engaging in direct contact with patients. Once contaminated, these devices can become agents of distribution for germs and bacteria as the care giver moves about the hospital from patient to patient and from hospital to the community.
Hospitals have clearly defined control procedures that address the cleaning and disinfecting of other mobile care devices such as Stethoscopes, however this may or may not include or extend to ICT related devices. To further complicate matters, standard hospital cleaning products and procedures may even damage mobile device screen and internal electronics.
To address these concerns and provide practical advice, Dr. Steven J. Davison and Gregg Malkary recently authored an article entitled “Dangerous Devices” that outlines the challenges and extent of the threat and also provide guidance on the deployment and management of mobile devices within hospitals.
The full article is available on Hospital Connect and some good additional commentary can be found on Dr. David More’s Blog, Australian Health Information Technology.
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