| Mobile communication devices help accelerate in-hospital flow of medical information, information sharing and querying, and contribute to communications in the event of emergencies through their application and access to wireless media technology. Healthcare-associated infections remain a leading and high-cost problem of global health systems despite improvements in modern therapies. Our aim was to determine the mobile phones contamination among Health Workers. 80 Health Workers at Sri Lakshmi Narayana Institute of Medical sciences, puducherry were enrolled in the study. Swabs from fingertips and keypads of mobile phones were taken using moist sterile swabs and plated on Mac Conkey and Blood agar plates. The bacteria isolated were identified by biochemical tests. A significant number of mobile phones in the Operation Theatre were found to be contaminated with bacteria. Most of these bacteria though are nonpathogenic in normal circumstances but may become significant among the patient population. Daily disinfection practice of mobile phones of all Health Care Workers should be part of Operation Theatre safety protocols for prevention of infection.It is important to encourage higher compliance to hand washing practices and routine surface disinfection of personal use items brought to the operation theatre. Mobile phone disinfection should be part of infection prevention protocols in Operation Theatreddd |
