Does your cellphone have the new MRSA feature?

OK, I know you’re probably reading the headline to this article and saying to yourself, “What the heck?!” But apparently it is true. Your cellphone is a cesspool of illness causing bacteria trumped in disgusingness (is that even a word?) by the floor of a gas station bathroom located somewhere in Yonkers. The last thing you want to invision is a streak plate colonized by MRSA when you place that iPhone next to your buccal cavity, but this is exactly what you are doing  Using cell phones in the hospital setting is only exacerbating the already high rates of nosacomial infections in the United States, yet we see doctors walking the halls and in patients rooms with their blackberries glued to the sides of the heads. Nurses, we can’t claim we are innocent with our cell phone usage in a hidden nooks of the units or in the break room. In some ways we are worse because WE KNOW BETTER. Day one in nursing school, handwashing Handwashing, HANDWASHING.

We are kidding ourselves if we think that little chatterbox we keep in our pockets, our lifeline to the outside world, isn’t covered in all sorts of little nasties after being slid across the counter behind the nurses station and sitting on our med cart, while we prep antibiotic IVSS for our patients (ironic, isn’t it).

Researchers at Ondokuz Mayis University in Turkey tested the cell phones of 200 doctors and nurses and found that nearly all — 95 percent — were tainted with bacteria, with some carrying the MRSA

There are a few products that you can buy to lessen the amount of bacteria on your phone, such as a product from PureLight, a company that makes UV wants for sterilizing large surfaces. Their new portable wand is designed for cell phones. There are also antimicrobial phone skins that reduce the amount of bacteria. Also, using a handsfree headset and minimizing contact with the phone itself (phone abstinence?) lessens contamination as well. Check out the video about cell phone bacteria after the break.

[Read article HERE]

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