Bacterial Presence In The Optometric Exam Room.

Background: It is of utmost importance in an optometric practice to minimize or eliminate the
potential for bacterial presence and transmittance to the patient. The purpose of this project is to evaluate whether the current acceptable standard in exam room sterilization is adequate or if, by not routinely sterilizing selected commonly touched surfaces between patient examinations, we are putting every patient at risk for bacterial infection. Method: Ten items were chosen to evaluate bacterial presence in the optometric exam room. The ten chosen surfaces are commonly touched by the examiner and/or the patient. Five of these items (slit lamp chin rest, cover paddle, phoropter head rest, slit lamp head rest, keratometer chin rest) are routinely cleaned and sterilized with an alcohol pad according to current acceptable standards between each patient encounter. The other five chosen items (mydriatic bottle, examiner's pen, slit lamp toggle, exam chair arm rest, faucet handle) are cleaned at the practitioner's discretion. Samples were taken from randomly chosen exam rooms in an optometric practice and used to inoculate two different
growth media. Results: Results show bacterial presence on a multitude of items. Conclusion: Through quantitative and comparative analysis, this research illustrates that the University Eye Center and its equipment, though showing a presence of bacteria on both routinely "sterilized" and "non-sterilized" exan1 room items, yielded numbers that did not show a significantly high bacterial colony growth on any of the surfaces commonly in contact with practitioner and patient.