Winning abstract looks at smartphone use in practice

Personal electronic devices are frequently used in practice, yet are rarely cleaned and carry resistant bacteria. That was the finding from the winning abstract at the British Veterinary Nursing Association (BVNA) conference by Georgia Vinnall, an RVN at Langford Veterinary Services. She investigated the use of personal electronic devices (tablet computers, smartphones, etc) in practice and found them widely used – 48 out of 50 participants in her study reported using them for tasks such as managing in-patients, giving advice to clients, or taking photos or videos. Of the 46 devices swabbed to evaluate bacterial contamination, 87 per cent were found to be carrying staphylococci and enterobacteria. She found that 13 of the staphylococci were resistant to vancomycin, an antibiotic of last resort. All of the genotyped staphylococci were of human origin. Her study also found that compliance with cleaning was very low – 21 participants never cleaned their...
Source: Veterinary Record - Category: Veterinary Research Tags: News section Source Type: research