Reducing the risk of mouth-to-mouth transmission of pathogens via re-usable, machine-read parking tickets: an observational cohort study. Issue 4 (December 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Groves, J.; Church, H.; Holland, D.; Thompson, N.
• Is Part Of: Journal of hospital infection. Volume 97:Issue 4(2017)
• Page Start: 430
• Page End: 432
• Publication Date: 2017-12
• Subjects: Car park -- Ticket -- Re-usable ticket -- Cross-infection -- Mouth -- Fomite -- UV dye; Cross infection -- Periodicals; Cross infection -- Prevention -- Periodicals; Nosocomial infections -- Periodicals; Nosocomial infections -- Prevention -- Periodicals; Cross Infection -- Periodicals; Cross Infection -- prevention & control -- Periodicals; Infection Control -- Periodicals; Electronic journals; 614.44
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jhin.2017.05.027
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0195-6701

Abstract

Summary: The car parks at the study hospital are accessed using re-usable, machine-read tickets. In the initial phase of this study, 598 staff members were observed entering the car park, and 21.6% of them put their parking ticket in their mouth. Ultraviolet dye was used to demonstrate card-to-card cross-contamination. Swabs of the ticket machine yielded commensal bacteria: coagulase-negative staphylococci and a Bacillus sp. After placing a poster on the ticket-reading machine highlighting the potential risk of infection, a further 1366 observations demonstrated a significant and persistent decline in the proportion of staff who put their ticket in their mouth ( P <0.001).