Contamination Level of Stethoscopes Used By Physicians and Physician Assistants

The Journal of Physician Assistant Education | 2007 Vol 18 No 2 INTRODUCTION The stethoscope is a popular instrument used by health care providers to evaluate the lung, heart, and abdominal sounds of their patients. Although clinicians are instructed about microbiology and the importance of maintaining clean medical instruments, the stethoscope may not be thought of as a potential source of nosocomial infection. Numerous studies in the past decade have reported the level of bacterial contamination on stethoscopes belonging to physicians and nurses (Table 1). The large majority of the stethoscopes examined in these studies were contaminated: most with Gram-positive organisms, primarily Staphyolococcus species.1-8 In addition, in some studies the stethoscopes used by physicians were found to be more contaminated than those of nurses and others.1-3,7 Some of the studies examined the effectiveness of different cleaning agents and the selfreported frequency of clinicians cleaning their own stethoscope. The most effective cleaning agent identified was 70% isopropyl alcohol.1-2,4,6 The reported frequency of stethoscope cleaning varied significantly in each study but many participants reported cleaning their scopes infrequently.1,7 To the best of our knowledge, no studies have been published comparing the prevalence of stethoscope contamination between physicians and physician assistants (PAs). The objectives of this study were to: (1) identify the degree of bacterial contamination present on stethoscopes used by PAs and physicians in the outpatient setting; (2) identify the reported frequency of stethoscope cleaning by physicians and PAs; and (3) determine whether profession, gender, or years of experience predict the degree of bacterial stethoscope contamination. Contamination Level of Stethoscopes Used By Physicians and Physician Assistants Robert L. Wilkins, PhD, RRT, FAARC; Ruben D. Restrepo, MD, RRT, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, Texas