|
|
|
MRSA inside: the killer computer bug |
|
|
|
Health
|
|
Written by Peter Warren
|
|
Wednesday, 31 May 2006 |
Published Daily Mirror and The Register
Scientists in the US have linked the spread of the hospital super bug
MRSA to a sharp increase in the use of technology in hospitals.
Researchers working in hospitals have found that the deadly bacteria
clings to the keys of the computer keyboards used to update patient
records and therefore can re-infect the hands of staff even after they
had washed their hands.
There were 55 deaths from MRSA in UK hospitals in 1993, but fatalities
have increased every year since and by 2003 were running at nearly a
1,000 annually, according to the National Office of Statistics.
The US findings, which were presented to the Society for Healthcare
Epidemiology of America earlier this month, found that just touching a
keyboard is enough to pick up the bacteria and pass it onto a patient.
The researchers also found that cleaning IT equipment with soap and water was not enough to remove the bacteria.
The only way to clear the infection from the keyboards, according to Dr
Gary Norskin from the Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago who
carried out the study, was to rinse the keyboard with disinfectant.
"A computer keyboard is like any other surface in a hospital and has to
be sterilised," said Norskin, Northwestern Hospital's director of
healthcare.
The Chicago study is part of a new trend in the US which is now taking
a long hard look at how the introduction of computer equipment into
hospitals can often represent a health risk.
Computers quickly become magnets for airborne dust and bacteria-harbouring dirt, which builds up on their internal cooling fans.
The fans represent a further health hazard because of their potential to blow that same dust around a ward.
"Anything that can put bacteria into the air is a risk," said Norskin.
"If you bang into a computer and disturb that dust you can effectively
create a dust cloud."
Doctors at the Oklahoma Heart Hospital have already started to address the problem.
"We have computers everywhere because our goal it to have a paperless
hospital and to have computers everywhere a patient goes,” said Jeff
Jones, Oklahoma Hospital's lead system specialist.
"Computers harbouring bacteria is a very big concern of ours because we
have computers only three feet away from patients in our operating
rooms and we can't have dirt in places like that," he said, adding that
tuberculosis is another potential risk from technology as it is the
world's number one airborne disease.
"We did an experiment with waterproof keyboards that you can wipe clean
but found out that they were generating a lot of keystroke errors that
could have been just as dangerous for patients," said Jones.
A spokesman for the UK’s National Health Service confirmed that the
department's computer specialists were looking into the concerns and
that the agency responsible, NHS Connecting for Health, was conducting
a study into the issue at University College London to find the risks.
Dr Paul Grime, the British Medical Association's spokesman on MRSA
commented: "If computers and keyboards are going to be next to people's
beds then this is something that we have to be aware of because this
equipment is no different from any other hard surface in a hospital but
the key to this is hand hygiene and staff have to get used to washing
their hands before and after touching a patient.”
Such health risks have not gone unnoticed by the computer industry
which has moved quickly to respond to the threat created by technology
in hospital.
"Very shortly UK hospitals are expected to switch to electronic medical
records in line with the national Programme for IT which means there is
going to be a computer device in every patient care room," said Ken
Nott, of the computer company ClearCube, which supplies clean computer
systems without fans. "You can wash your hands but not your PC." ®
|
|
|
|
|