The impact of a 'milking the COW' campaign in a regional hospital in Singapore

Computerisation of various processes in hospitals and reliance on electronic devices raises the concern of contamination of these devices from the patient environment. We undertook this study to determine if an attached hand hygiene device that unlocks the screen of a computer on wheels (COW) on usa...

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Published in:	Antimicrobial resistance & infection control Vol. 10; no. 1; p. 81
Main Authors:	Pada, Surinder Kaur M S, Lishi, Poh, Ng, Kim Sim, Rethenam, Sarathamani, Alenton, Lilibeth Silagan, Chee, Poh Ling, Guo, Wilma, Hsann, Yin Maw, Cheng, Carmen Wan Rong, Ong, Chiou Horng, Lasantha, Ratnayake, Chan, Douglas, Tambyah, Paul Anantharajah
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	England BioMed Central Ltd 22-05-2021 BioMed Central BMC
Subjects:	Analysis Bacteria Bacterial Load Colony Count, Microbial Computers Cross Infection - prevention & control Cross-Over Studies Disease control Drug resistance Equipment Contamination - prevention & control Flora Hand Hygiene - instrumentation Health aspects Hospitals Humans Hygiene Intervention Keyboards Keyboards (Electronics) Laboratories Medical research Medicine, Experimental Microbiota (Symbiotic organisms) Organisms Personal hygiene Prospective Studies Singapore Software Staphylococcus infections Statistical analysis Singapore
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Summary:	Computerisation of various processes in hospitals and reliance on electronic devices raises the concern of contamination of these devices from the patient environment. We undertook this study to determine if an attached hand hygiene device that unlocks the screen of a computer on wheels (COW) on usage can be effective in decreasing the microbiological burden on computer keyboards. An electronic hand sanitizer was integrated onto the COW. A prospective cohort study with a crossover design involving 2 control and 2 intervention wards was used. The study end point was the number of colony forming units found on the keyboards. Bacteria were classified into 4 main groups; pathogenic, skin flora, from the environment or those thought to be commensals in healthy individuals. We then used a mixed effects model for the statistical analysis to determine if there were any differences before and after the intervention. Thirty-nine keyboards were swabbed at baseline, day 7 and 14, with 234 keyboards cultured, colony forming units (CFUs) counted and organisms isolated. By mixed model analysis, the difference of mean bacteria count between intervention and control for week 1 was 32.74 (- 32.74, CI - 94.29 to 28.75, p = 0.29), for week 2 by 155.86 (- 155.86, CI - 227.45 to - 83.53, p < 0.0001), and after the 2-week period by 157.04 (- 157.04, CI - 231.53 to - 82.67, p < 0.0001). In the sub-analysis, there were significant differences of pathogenic bacteria counts for the Intervention as compared to the Control in contrast with commensal counts. A hand hygiene device attached to a COW may be effective in decreasing the microbiological burden on computer keyboards.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23
ISSN:	2047-2994 2047-2994
DOI:	10.1186/s13756-021-00948-1