Practicability of Hygienic Wrapping of Touchscreen Operated Mobile Devices in a Clinical Setting

Abstract

BackgroundTo prove effectiveness of wrapping tablet computers in order to reduce microbiological contamination and to evaluate whether a plastic bag-covered tablet leads to impaired user satisfaction or touchscreen functionality.Materials and MethodsWithin a period of 11 days 115 patients were provided with a tablet computer while waiting for their magnetic resonance imaging examination. Every day the contamination of the surface of the tablet was determined before the first and after the final use. Before the device was handed over to a patient, it was enclosed in a customized single-use plastic bag, which was analyzed for bacterial contamination after each use. A questionnaire was applied to determine whether the plastic bag impairs the user satisfaction and the functionality of the touchscreen.ResultsFollowing the use by patients the outside of the plastic bags was found to be contaminated with various bacteria (657.5 ± 368.5 colony forming units/day); some of them were potentially pathogenic. In contrast, the plastic bag covered surface of the tablet was significantly less contaminated (1.7 ± 1.9 colony forming units/day). Likewise, unused plastic bags did not show any contamination. 11% of the patients reported problems with the functionality of the touchscreen. These patients admitted that they had never used a tablet or a smartphone before.ConclusionsTablets get severely contaminated during usage in a clinical setting. Wrapping with a customized single-use plastic bag significantly reduces microbiological contamination of the device, protects patients from the acquisition of potentially pathogenic bacteria and hardly impairs the user satisfaction and the functionality of the touchscreen.

Potential self‐disinfection capacity of touch screen displays

“…Many common devices such as the Ipad (Apple, Cupertino) must not be treated with chemical disinfectants according to the manufacturer. One hygienic way of using such equipment would be to wrap it in disposable plastic sleeves [5]. Several authors investigated the results of chemical disinfectants and ultraviolet radiation [6][7][8] directly applied to the touch screen display.…”

Implementing a video call visit system in a coronavirus disease 2019 unit

“…SARS-CoV-2 can remain viable for up to 3 days on the plastic surfaces of electronic devices. 5 Measures taken to prevent this are the use of disposable plastic sleeves to cover the device with each use, 6 decontamination with an alcohol-based solution between patients 7 and HCW’s wearing standard PPE.…”

Touchscreen interfaces in context: A systematic review of research into touchscreens across settings, populations, and implementations

“…With the exception of four cross-sectional studies (Hammon et al, 2014;Herrick et al, 2013;Pal et al, 2013), all studies were within-subjects, between-subjects, or mixed factorial design; typical design was full-factorial within-subjects except when population comparisons necessitated a between-subjects or mixed design: across all mixed and between-subjects studies (20 studies), only four non-population study factors were between-subjects (Eliav et al, 2011;McLaughlin et al, 2009;Sonderegger et al, 2016;Young et al, 2014). In addition, one study (Huang & Chen, 2010) made use of the method of adjustment for one of its research questions; otherwise it was a within-subjects study.…”

“…Touchscreen interfaces show great promise in medical settings from a safety perspective, where microbial contamination is a serious concern. Not only do touchscreens seem to hold onto less contamination by virtue of their very design (Pal et al, 2013), they can also be used in a disposable wrapping that will further limit contamination (Hammon et al, 2014) without impairing their perceived usability as patient information devices. Their use in patient assessment shows promise as well, especially over stylus-based mechanisms (Herrick et al, 2013).…”