Abstract
Objective: To investigate the bacteria present in the equipment of health professionals who work in four different areas of the hospital: Intensive Care Unit (ICU), Surgical Center, Emergency and strictly administrative premises, the latter constituting the control group. Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out in a hospital based on 120 samples collected from cell phones of professionals working in sectors with different specialties. For this, their swabs were grown on Agar medium in culture plates and their readings were performed in 24 and 48 hours, the results were then differentiated according to the specialties. Results: Of the total of devices (120) evaluated, 92.5% (111) were colonized by one or more types of bacteria. The most frequent type of bacteria was coagulase-negative Staphylococcus (51%), followed by Staphylococcus aureus MRSA (6%), Acinetobacter baumannii (3.3%) and Klebsiella pneumoniae (1.6%). Conclusion: As identified in other studies that confirmed the contamination of cell phones of professionals in the hospital environment, these devices can serve as carriers of potentially pathogenic bacteria. That said, measures to regulate its use and the need to review hygiene protocols are indispensable.