Cleaning MRSA off iPhone

[thisampgoestoeleven]

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This is an important question. My phone probably has more bacteria on it than a vent tube at an LTAC.

Does anyone regularly clean their iPhone? If so, how (without destroying it / crapping our the speakers)

 

[wamcp]

This is an important question. My phone probably has more bacteria on it than a vent tube at an LTAC.

Does anyone regularly clean their iPhone? If so, how (without destroying it / crapping our the speakers)

I drench and wipe my phone down with the purple sanicloths perhaps a dozen times throughout every shift
I do have a iphone case and screen protector on, I have noticed zero problems for years

 

[thisampgoestoeleven]

Interesting.

I was told the purple bottle wipes cause cancer — which I believe since they smell horrible , I’m sure there’s some terrible aromatic compounds in there.

I’ve been using whatever excess purel foam and wiping it over the phone front and back.

Or I’ll take one of my kids baby wipes every so often to give it a bath every so often.

 

[gutonc]

Interesting.

I was told the purple bottle wipes cause cancer — which I believe since they smell horrible , I’m sure there’s some terrible aromatic compounds in there.

Are you worried about your iPhone getting cancer?

 

[wamcp]

Interesting.

I was told the purple bottle wipes cause cancer — which I believe since they smell horrible , I’m sure there’s some terrible aromatic compounds in there.

I’ve been using whatever excess purel foam and wiping it over the phone front and back.

Or I’ll take one of my kids baby wipes every so often to give it a bath every so often.

If you inspect the sanicloth labels according to “OSHA standards” it is not carcinogenic


Sani-Cloth Germicidal Disposable Wipes and Sani-Prime Germicidal Spray DO NOT contain any ingredients listed as a carcinogenic by the National Toxicology Program (NTP), American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH), and Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). This applies to ALL Sani-Cloth products, including Sani-Cloth Prime, Sani-Prime, Super Sani-Cloth, Sani-Cloth AF3, Sani-Cloth Bleach, Sani-Cloth Plus, and Sani-Cloth HB brands. To register any disinfectant product with the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the manufacturer is required to provide the EPA with the product’s manufacturing process, active and inactive ingredients, efficacy, chemistry, toxicity, and information about relevant impurities. The EPA conducts a thorough review of these materials and product’s ingredients. The agency would not register any product if it contained carcinogens without requiring relevant label warnings (40 CFR 156.10(g)(7)). As such, Sani-Cloth Wipes and Sani-PrimeSpray do not contain carcinogenic label warnings.

 

[thisampgoestoeleven]

interesting. OK, i suppose I'll try the highly emetogenic wipes after all.

 

[xoggyux]

I'd be devil's advocate for a bit now. Perhaps we freak out more than we should. Don't get me wrong, proper hygiene is and infection control precautions are important but when was the last time you left your shoes at the entrance of your appartment? Those shoes that are in contact with the nasty hospital floor, where patients poop, bleed, urinate, you step into your nice appartment's carpet, rugs, floors. Your dog walks around the appartment the whole day and then jumps on your bed, licks its paws and your face. Let's be honest, we don't wipe the stethoscope 100% of the times we go into a patient's room and 100% when we walk out. Even the most germophobes of us forget from time to time. I see people freaking out about germs, and then grab a piece of gum with their hands after typing an H&P on a keyboard that would probably growth a dozen different strains of pseudomonas if cultured. The point I am trying to make is that perhaps you shouldn't necessarily be too aggressive. I personally don't touch my phone with gloves ever and for the most part my phone is either on my hands or my pocket, very rarely it is on a table and if it is on a table briefly, it is usually in an office and not a patient's room. I don't see a reason why it would be dramatically different than the phone of anyone else that does not work in a hospital environment. The reality is that all of the devises and surfaces that we touch are always covered on crap. Check the mythbuster's episode about the poop in the toothbrush.
Call me crazy (or disgusting) but my approach is more liberal in that sense. I would not necessarily clean daily (or even multiple times a day). I do wipe it from time to time, perhaps once a week or so but then again I am not dropping my phone on the floor, answering with gloves and I do practice strict hand hygiene in the hospital (while I do forget to wipe my stethoscope, I do not forget to wash my hands, 80%+ with water and soap after each patient) so I am not very scared of my phone. I wouldn't hand it to a small child to play though, that's my line =).

If you inspect the sanicloth labels according to “OSHA standards” it is not carcinogenic


Sani-Cloth Germicidal Disposable Wipes and Sani-Prime Germicidal Spray DO NOT contain any ingredients listed as a carcinogenic by the National Toxicology Program (NTP), American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH), and Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). This applies to ALL Sani-Cloth products, including Sani-Cloth Prime, Sani-Prime, Super Sani-Cloth, Sani-Cloth AF3, Sani-Cloth Bleach, Sani-Cloth Plus, and Sani-Cloth HB brands. To register any disinfectant product with the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the manufacturer is required to provide the EPA with the product’s manufacturing process, active and inactive ingredients, efficacy, chemistry, toxicity, and information about relevant impurities. The EPA conducts a thorough review of these materials and product’s ingredients. The agency would not register any product if it contained carcinogens without requiring relevant label warnings (40 CFR 156.10(g)(7)). As such, Sani-Cloth Wipes and Sani-PrimeSpray do not contain carcinogenic label warnings.

THANK YOU. For many years I used to simply grab the wipes, use it on my stuff and then wash my hands. All the nurses would freak out "USE GLOVES, you gonna get cancer". I was so confused, most chemical carcinogens usually are ingested or inhaled and/or require long exposures, not a 10sec contact. Also, the surface of the skin is pretty much dead, these chemicals are very volatile I doubt there is much absorption if any at all through the skin. But then I looked up the information like you did and I was further vindicated of how much crap is being said. I wonder how this rumor got started, it seems to be almost universal. It still makes sense for nurses to use gloves (not necessarily for cancer prevention, but this stuff can irritatesince and ruin their nail polish!) they use this stuff way too much (rightfully so) but my contact with it is far more sporadic and brief. Unless someone brings me compelling information to do otherwise, I really don't go out of my way to grab gloves. Im inhaling that crap anyway, if anything I'd be more concerned about inhalation than contact.

 

[thisampgoestoeleven]

My kids will literally kiss the face of my phone when FaceTime'ing my parents, so while I agree I am pro-germ, I'd rather not smush MRSA and VRE all over their face if I can avoid it.

I agree though, we freak out over colonization vs. infection. MRSA phobia in the 90's-00's probably created VRE with the overuse of vancomycin. I think of the 100's of pneumonias I've treated inpatient maybe 1 or 2 of them actually truly had MRSA. Sure, the nasty looking SSTI and osteo's need it, but that's about it.

But contact precautions probably work. So I'd like to avoid bringing stuff home if I can avoid it. Forget the stethoscope. I just glom whatever one is lying around. (As if it had any more use for me after intern year.)

 

[NotAProgDirector]

Neither you, nor your kids, are going to get a MRSA or VRE infection if they are otherwise healthy even if exposed. The main point of hand hygiene / contact precautions / etc is to prevent other sick patients from getting those infections. As long as your patients are not using your phone, it probably doesn't matter what you do.

Obviously there are a few infections that you can get from your patients if you're not careful -- flu, Hep A, norovirus, etc. Those are actually the ones to worry about catching from your phone.

 

[rokshana]

I'd be devil's advocate for a bit now. Perhaps we freak out more than we should. Don't get me wrong, proper hygiene is and infection control precautions are important but when was the last time you left your shoes at the entrance of your appartment? Those shoes that are in contact with the nasty hospital floor, where patients poop, bleed, urinate, you step into your nice appartment's carpet, rugs, floors. Your dog walks around the appartment the whole day and then jumps on your bed, licks its paws and your face. Let's be honest, we don't wipe the stethoscope 100% of the times we go into a patient's room and 100% when we walk out. Even the most germophobes of us forget from time to time. I see people freaking out about germs, and then grab a piece of gum with their hands after typing an H&P on a keyboard that would probably growth a dozen different strains of pseudomonas if cultured. The point I am trying to make is that perhaps you shouldn't necessarily be too aggressive. I personally don't touch my phone with gloves ever and for the most part my phone is either on my hands or my pocket, very rarely it is on a table and if it is on a table briefly, it is usually in an office and not a patient's room. I don't see a reason why it would be dramatically different than the phone of anyone else that does not work in a hospital environment. The reality is that all of the devises and surfaces that we touch are always covered on crap. Check the mythbuster's episode about the poop in the toothbrush.
Call me crazy (or disgusting) but my approach is more liberal in that sense. I would not necessarily clean daily (or even multiple times a day). I do wipe it from time to time, perhaps once a week or so but then again I am not dropping my phone on the floor, answering with gloves and I do practice strict hand hygiene in the hospital (while I do forget to wipe my stethoscope, I do not forget to wash my hands, 80%+ with water and soap after each patient) so I am not very scared of my phone. I wouldn't hand it to a small child to play though, that's my line =).




THANK YOU. For many years I used to simply grab the wipes, use it on my stuff and then wash my hands. All the nurses would freak out "USE GLOVES, you gonna get cancer". I was so confused, most chemical carcinogens usually are ingested or inhaled and/or require long exposures, not a 10sec contact. Also, the surface of the skin is pretty much dead, these chemicals are very volatile I doubt there is much absorption if any at all through the skin. But then I looked up the information like you did and I was further vindicated of how much crap is being said. I wonder how this rumor got started, it seems to be almost universal. It still makes sense for nurses to use gloves (not necessarily for cancer prevention, but this stuff can irritatesince and ruin their nail polish!) they use this stuff way too much (rightfully so) but my contact with it is far more sporadic and brief. Unless someone brings me compelling information to do otherwise, I really don't go out of my way to grab gloves. Im inhaling that crap anyway, if anything I'd be more concerned about inhalation than contact.

Asian...no shoes in the house.

 

[Meerkatology]

what about having 2 phones, 1 for work 1 for personal?

u can also avoid getting calls during ur off hours 🙂

 

[xoggyux]

My kids will literally kiss the face of my phone when FaceTime'ing my parents, so while I agree I am pro-germ, I'd rather not smush MRSA and VRE all over their face if I can avoid it.

I agree though, we freak out over colonization vs. infection. MRSA phobia in the 90's-00's probably created VRE with the overuse of vancomycin. I think of the 100's of pneumonias I've treated inpatient maybe 1 or 2 of them actually truly had MRSA. Sure, the nasty looking SSTI and osteo's need it, but that's about it.

But contact precautions probably work. So I'd like to avoid bringing stuff home if I can avoid it. Forget the stethoscope. I just glom whatever one is lying around. (As if it had any more use for me after intern year.)

If I were on your shoes, (and I COULD be, even though I am writing from home currently, because I am not Asian) I think my approach would be a bit different and would try to use this as a teachable opportunity for the kids. I'd focus on having them learn about microbes and hygiene. For you, this is the opposite from "ignorance is bliss" and perhaps your knowledge is burdening, though in reality the real risk of your kid doing what you are describing is far less than what we perceive. Regardless, I do think you have an opportunity to teach your kids that kissing your phone is not right and that if they touch it for any other reason they should not be eating food or touching their mouth/nose/face or scratching open wounds, etc until they have properly washed their hands. Do I think this well make them any safer than they are already? not really, but it might just give you that peace of mind, while simultaneously teaching them useful concepts that they can learn early on (even small children, perhaps toddlers). My mom, being an ID doctor, to this very day tells me and my brother "go wash your hands" everytime we walk into her house (or even ours) from the street despite the fact we have not lived with her in over 1 decade, are adults with our own lives. I am not a germ-o-phobe as you can clearly see from my nonchalant approach so I don't think teaching them early, so far as you don't freak them out, is going to psychologically cripple your children or anything. I remember my mother showing me "the bugs" on her microscope probably as early as 4 or 5 years of age, I perhaps did not have a clear understanding until much later but I really enjoyed it back then and appreciate it now as an adult.

Asian...no shoes in the house.

Well, You still breathe molecules from poop every time someone fart next to you, breathe the same air as the people surrounding you, aspirate a bit of poop (and bacteria) every time the toilet aerosolizes the poop when you flush and brush your teeth with a toothbrush covered in bacteria like the rest of us. =D

what about having 2 phones, 1 for work 1 for personal?

u can also avoid getting calls during ur off hours 🙂

That could be another approach. Does not even have to be a full blow cellphone, there are plenty of devices nowadays that function 90% as a phone (tablets, ipods) you could have one of those that does not leave the house specifically for their use. But frankly, I think teaching is always better. You would freak out of you found your kids kissing the floor of a public bathroom because it has drawn a nice picture of grandma in the floor.

 

[badasshairday]

Do you guys actually wear the shoes you wear in the hospital inside your home??? I now leave my work shoes at the hospital. When I use to wear my work shoes home I would leave them in the garage or outside the front door. Hell no I would not wear those inside!