The purpose of this review was to discuss how current literature described nosocomial infections transmitted via computers in hospitals. It also described the various methods used to disinfect computers. The research questions in this study were; What are nosocomial infections? How do contaminated computer devices transmit nosocomial infections? and What infection control methods are applied to decontaminate computers within hospitals?
The aim of conducting this study was to create an awareness of the risk of nosocomial infection transmitted via computers and to establish a protocol for cleaning and disinfecting computers in order to minimize the spread of nosocomial infections. The method of data collection used was systematic literature review. The literature search was based on previously published studies, which included; current articles, journals and web searches. The data was selected from literature search by their relevance to the research task, and analyzed through inductive qualitative analysis.
The findings reported that, computers in hospitals act as reservoirs for nosocomial pathogens and the spread of nosocomial infection occurs through hand contact of health care workers moving from computers to patients without hand hygiene compliance. It also reported that there has not been any established protocol for cleaning and disinfecting of computers. However, it was found that regular cleaning and disinfection of computers minimizes the potential risk for cross-infection of nosocomial pathogens.
In order to reduce the risk of cross infection of nosocomial pathogens from contaminated surfaces to susceptible patients, the nurse’s role in infection control should be emphasized. More research is required on the field of computers and other electronical devices commonly used in hospitals that may act as reservoirs for nosocomial pathogens. The establishment of evidence based cleaning and disinfecting protocol for computers should also be considered within hospitals in Finland, this would improve the quality of infection control and patient care
