Patient privacy curtains can be a source of infection from multidrug-resistant organisms (MDROs), according to an article on the Clinical Oncology website.
University of Michigan researchers looked at the prevalence of curtains contaminated in skilled nursing facility rooms.
Throughout the day, many people touch patient privacy curtains, which are used in most healthcare facilities, but they are not cleaned often, and therefore can remain contaminated between patients, the article said.
The researchers said their findings show contamination of privacy curtains with MDROs is a common problem, and that patients are frequently contaminated with the same MDROs as their privacy curtains.
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