Bacterial Colonization of Stethoscope used by Health Care Professionals at a Rural-Based Tertiary Care Hospital and Effective Measures for Its Disinfection

INTRODUCTION: Stethoscopes can be a potential source for transmission of infection among patients as it is most commonly used device by all health professionals. This study was conducted in a rural based tertiary care hospital to determine the growth of different types of pathogens from diaphragms of stethoscopes used by health care professionals and whether decontamination by 70% isopropyl alcohol will be effective in reducing bacterial load. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: AIM: To detect presence of microorganisms on the diaphragm of stethoscope used by Health care workers. OBJECTIVES: 1) To identify the types of organisms, present on stethoscopes. 2) To determine the effectiveness of 70% isopropyl alcohol as a disinfectant. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Fifty stethoscopes of health care professionals of different departments were used for microbiological sampling. Further, the diaphragms of all the stethoscopes were cleaned with 70% isopropyl alcohol and were resampled to detect the effectiveness of 70% isopropyl alcohol as a disinfectant. Antibiotic sensitivity testing of pathogenic bacteria was carried out. RESULTS: Out of randomly selected 50 stethoscopes from different clinical departments 35 stethoscopes (70%) showed significant bacterial growth. Out of the different organisms isolated, Coagulase-negative staphylococci (CoNS) 11 (22%) were predominantly found. On cleaning with 70% isopropyl alcohol, there was a significant decrease in the colonization of organisms. CONCLUSION: The findings of this study demonstrated that stethoscopes are colonized with pathogenic bacteria and use of 70% isopropyl alcohol can significantly reduce contamination and thus should be adopted as a regular practice.