From tablets in hallway kiosks to doctors’ own smartphones, touchscreen surfaces abound in healthcare settings, according to an infographic on the PDI website.
With everything from x-ray screens to ultrasound touchscreens to bedside portals, more screens pose more risk of spreading infection.
Phones alone — which the average American touches 46 times per day - are portable reservoirs for the transmission of pathogens, and yet 17 percent of physicians don’t even clean their devices, according to the infographic.
In fact, 83 percent of orthopedic surgeons had pathogenic bacteria on their phones when they walked into surgery.
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