Can mobile phones carry bacteria in hospital environments?
Studies have identified that mobile phones and other common items, such as clothes, stethoscopes, neck ties, pens and jewellery, worn and used by doctors can carry bacteria. While the main contribution to transmission of infection is inadequate hand hygiene, the Board of Science of the British Medical Association recommends that healthcare professionals should wear clothes that minimise the spread of infection; refrain from wearing functionless clothing items (such as neck ties) and, where possible, change clothes when leaving the clinical setting. Similar cautions could be applied to mobile phones carried by healthcare professionals.
