Abstract
Patient's medical charts in hospitals are potentially contaminated by pathogenic bacteria and might act as vehicles for transmission of bacterial infections.This study was aimed to determine the rate of contamination of medical charts by multidrug resistant bacteria. Sampling of total 250 patient's medical charts from different wards was done with the help of cotton swabs soaked in sterile normal saline. The swabs thus collected were cultured using standard microbiological procedures.The colonies grown were then identified with the help of colony morphology, Gram's stain and biochemical tests. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing was performed by using Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion technique. Of the total 250 charts sampled, 98.8% grew bacteria; Bacillus spp. in 40.7%, followed by Staphylococcus aureus (17%), coagulase-negative Staphylococcus spp.(CoNS) (17%), Citrobacter freundii (9.6%) and Acinetobacter spp. (4.5%). Rate of multidrug resistance was highest in Acinetobacter spp. (50%). Among 83 isolates of S. aureus, methicillin resistance was found in 29 isolates. Similarly, two out of total 9 isolates of Enterococcus spp. were vancomycin resistant. This study showed that patient's medical charts were contaminated with multidrug resistant bacteria including methicillin resistant S. aureus and vancomycin resistant Enterococcus spp. Strict hand washing before and after handling medical charts is recommended.
Highlights
Healthcare-associated infections are the leading causes of morbidity and mortality around the world.[1]
The emergence of multidrug resistant bacteria has further aggravated the problem caused by nosocomial infection.[4]
Four hundred and eighty nine bacterial isolates were isolated from 247 culture positive charts (250 total charts).The most common bacteria isolated were Bacillus spp. (40.7%) followed by Staphylococcus aureus
Summary
Healthcare-associated infections are the leading causes of morbidity and mortality around the world.[1] These problems are well established in developing countries.[1] The major sources of infections in hospitalized patients may be healthcare personnel, medical devices or the healthcare environment and visitors.[2] The literatures have evidenced that inanimate objects like stethoscopes, latex gloves, white coats and patient’s charts might act as the source of pathogenic bacteria.[3] Hand hygiene is the most effective way of preventing the transmission and spread of the infectious agents.[3]. The emergence of multidrug resistant bacteria has further aggravated the problem caused by nosocomial infection.[4] In this study, we determined the rate of contamination of medical charts by multidrug resistant bacteria. Patient’s medical charts in hospitals are potentially contaminated by pathogenic bacteria and might act as vehicles for transmission of bacterial infections.This study was aimed to determine the rate of contamination of medical charts by multidrug resistant bacteria
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