Investigation of the Microbial Load of Surfaces Contacting with the Patient‟s Body in the Intensive Care Unit of a Health Center

Introduction and Objectives: The objective of this study was to define and measure the microbial load of the surfaces that have the most contact with the patient‟s body, in order to define the risk of contact of this surfaces with the patient‟s body, in the intensive care unit of a health center. The findings of this study may help to control and prevent the medical infections.Materials and Methods: In this study, in order to define the microbial load, ten surfaces that have the most contacts (either direct or indirect) with the patient‟s body were tested using a Luminometer device. After a precise disinfection, each surface was tested ten times.Results: According to the results, the greatest microbial load was observed for the ICU staff‟s hands and mobile cell phones with 650 and 630 RLUs (Relative Light Units), respectively.Conclusions: According to the findings of this study, it was concluded that the greatest microbial load exists for surfaces which have the most contact with the hands. Hence, it seems that the best approach for decreasing the microbial load is to modify the common used hand washing technique and moreover to ban the mobile cell phone in the concerned places.

کلیدواژه ها:

microbial load ، patient‟s body ، intensive care unit ، Luminometer