The Prevalence of MRSA Transmission by Stethoscope

[wvditchdoc]

I know this is an older study, but dayyyum that is disgusting. I am relatively meticulous with cleaning my scope, but I know some of the "Well hell, I can't remember when I cleaned it last" dumbasses.

The Prevalence of MRSA Transmission by Stethoscope
Keith Wesley, MD, FACEP
Street Science
2009 Mar 9

The authors of this study swabbed 50 stethoscopes of EMS providers presenting to their emergency department (ED) with patients. The swabs were then cultured to detect the presence of methicillin-resistant staph aureus (MRSA). They found 16 (32%) colonized with MRSA. When asked, none of the 16 (32%) could recall the last time their stethoscope had been cleaned.

Read the entire article here.

[scribble]

Same thing with the patient using your pen to sign...especially when they decide to hold it in their teeth while flipping pages...

[Medic101Charlie]

Same thing with the patient using your pen to sign...especially when they decide to hold it in their teeth while flipping pages...

That's why I have 2 pens...and the one that the patient writes with never leaves the back of the truck.

Jim

[prncssmdc]

Perfect. Add ANOTHER thing to add to my list that I am already borderline OCD about cleaning in the back of the rig. I have cleaned stethoscopes, now it will be daily.

Currently, I have a pen for me and a pen for my patients. I will not do a rig check or make a cot without gloves on. NO patient gets touched by ME without gloves on. Most of my co-workers think I'm going overboard, however, interestingly enough...since I have adopted my personal gloves policy I have been sick less often.

[Ditch Doc]

That's the great thing about BD's IV start packs. They come with 2 Alch preps. Since none of us have used the iodine and 2nd prep pad since school, we just throw the iodine away and use the prep to clean the scope.

Yeah, not textbook aseptic technique, but welcome to the real world.

[CombatMedic]

That's the great thing about BD's IV start packs. They come with 2 Alch preps. Since none of us have used the iodine and 2nd prep pad since school, we just throw the iodine away and use the prep to clean the scope.

Yeah, not textbook aseptic technique, but welcome to the real world.

Don't put those thoughts in my mind, my final is in three months.

I saw an article about this a few months ago. Asked my Medical director, he said, you think that is bad, ever wonder what some of the hospital stethoscopes are like.

[lerue]

Over here it is a massive issue, the service supply us with hard surface wipes, hand wipes, something called D10 which is an antibacterial cleaner. It all came to a head a couple of years ago when the HSE did some snap inspections on both Ambulances and Stations, they found that we were failing in quite a large percentage, this led to a notice of non compliance being issued. This in effect meant the service had to clean up it's act. We now have daily inspections, documentation of vehicle and equipment cleaning, weekly and monthly deep clean. Also we now have a greater amount of disposable equipment.

I use the hard surface wipes to clean all of my personal equipment, like stethoscope, pulse oximeter, opthalmoscope.