Contamination of the Parent's Cell Phone in the NICU

Conclusion

Our data provide helpful information in the creation of policies and quality improvement initiatives in the NICU. As all cell phones had positive cultures, the safest approach to minimizing the risk of bacterial transmission from cell phones to the patient is to generate a 'no tolerance' policy for cell phones, prohibiting their use at the bedside. Since the cell phone has become a regular fixture for most parents, this type of policy would be difficult to enforce. Therefore, an alternative approach is to create an encompassing strategy that would reduce the bacterial load to the hands. This would include educating parents on the risk that a contaminated cell phone poses for their baby, cell phone hygiene and proper hand gel application before and after cell phone usage at the baby's bedside. The use of anti-bacterial gels alone may not be enough. Additional means to reduce cell phone bacterial load need to be explored, such as decontamination of cell phones before entering the NICU.