Source: Surface Contamination of Outpatient Clinics Test

MATERIAL AND METHOD

Clinic surfaces in both patient waiting areas and patient examination areas were sampled with 15x60mm contact plates containing HardyCHROM™ MRSA CP, a chromogenic medium for the detection of MRSA from environmental surfaces as well as selective beta strep agar respectively. Sampling was conducted according to manufacturers recommendations (Hardy Diagnostics, Santa Maria, CA) with two plates used for each sampling point, incubated, and then the number of colonies on each plate counted and the two plate counts averaged to yield the final value for each point. 3 points were sampled in the patient waiting areas as well as in the patient examination areas of each of 5 outpatient clinics, at the end of the clinic day, at the beginning of the clinic day before patients had arrived, but after routine cleaning, and then after the surfaces had been fogged with a solution of stabilized chlorine dioxide (VitalOxide, Vital Technologies, West Palm Beach, FL) for a total of 90 sampling points. Surface Contamination of Outpatient Clinics Test

Further, the MRSA contamination in the patient waiting areas increased from 2.3 CFU/plate at the end of the day to 4.6 after routine cleaning. The contamination noted in the samples from the chairs increased from 7.1 at the end of the day to 17.3 after routine cleaning and the contamination after routine cleaning of the reception desks decreased from 2.5 at the end of the day to 1.

Source: Surface Contamination of Outpatient Clinics Test