Abstract
Purpose :
Health care organizations strive to reach a standard of care in regards to infection control. In eye care settings there are very few studies proving the significance of proper keyboard disinfection. This study is a two-phase statistical analysis. The initial phase determined the effectiveness of commercially available germicidal wipes on exam lane keyboards. Phase two looked at the difference in results after a brief behavioral modification announcement five months later.
Methods :
Phase one of the project involved 52 exam lane keyboards from five different departments in an eye care clinic. The keyboards were swabbed with a sterile cotton-tip applicator and cultured in a colony-isolating pattern on 5% sheep’s blood agar plates. The “F” key was swabbed once before disinfection with a germicidal cloth and the “J” key once after disinfection. Bacterial colonies were quantified at 24 and 48 hours of incubation. After 48 hours of incubation, ten plates were sent to a laboratory for bacteria identification. Phase two took place three months later after a brief clinic-wide announcement that disinfecting keyboards should be included as part of the infection control clinical routine. The same 52 keyboards from phase one were cultured and quantified at 24 and 48 hours for comparison with phase one data to determine whether the announcement provoked a behavioral change.
Results :
The phase one data, evaluating the efficacy of the germicidal cloths, yielded statistically significant results with P values less than 0.05 in four of the five departments. The laboratory identification report listed bacteria known to cause ocular pathology. Phase two results indicated a statistically significant decrease in bacteria growth in two of the five departments, with P values less than 0.05. Despite these results, 36 of the 52 total keyboards had individual reductions in bacteria growth.
Conclusions :
Phase one of this study concludes that wiping keyboards with a germicidal cloth yields a statistically significant reduction in bacteria growth, implying keyboards should be included in infection control protocols. Phase two of the study demonstrated how a simple infection control announcement can result in the reduction of bacteria growth, suggesting the start of a behavioral change resulting in a cleaner healthcare environment.
This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2018 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Honolulu, Hawaii, April 29 - May 3, 2018.