Comparative Assessment of Detecting Bacterial Populations on the Surface of Medical Equipment in ICU by Standard Microbial Culture and Nanosensor

Abstract

Background: A healthy, clean, and secure environment is necessary for the hospital, one of the fundamental foundations of the nation’s healthcare system, to function well and sustain the general well-being of society. Timely detection of contaminated surfaces and efficient and timely disinfection will be helpful in hospital infection control.

Objectives: The level of surface contamination of medical equipment in intensive care units was to be determined and compared as part of this research.

Methods: Using standard microbial culture and nanosensors, the current study was conducted descriptively over one month, with a sample size of 400 cases on ten different types of medical equipment.

Results: The findings showed that 66% of samples acquired using the nanosensor and 54.5% obtained using the culture medium were clean, and the rest were contaminated. The most prevalent microbes were also identified as E. coli, Staphylococcus aureus, and salmonella, with 55.68%, 28.9%, and 23.86%, respectively.

Conclusions: Both methods have the necessary precision to identify contamination reservoirs, and the contamination reported in both methods is similar to what was expected. So nanosensors can be utilized as a quick, precise, and affordable method when the aim is to identify the overall contamination rather than to differentiate between different types of bacteria.