Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles attached tracking devices to hospital identification badges of 15 internal medicine interns from October 2012 to December 2012. The tracking devices recorded the exact times that each intern entered and exited a specific location in the hospital.
Researchers found interns visited isolated patients less frequently than non-isolated patients, at 2.3 visits per day and 2.5 visits per day, respectively. Additionally, they spent 2.2 minutes per visit with isolated patients, compared to 2.8 minutes per visit with non-isolated patients.
Overall, interns spent 5.2 minutes per day with each isolated patient and 6.9 minutes per day with each non-isolated patients.
Researchers suggested their results demonstrate how contact precautions can interfere with patient care.
“Infection prevention strategies that minimize the barrier between physicians and patients, including hand hygiene, antimicrobial stewardship, and, as has recently been suggested, universal decolonization, should continue to be investigated because these methods may be more effective at reducing the spread of resistant organisms and less disruptive to patients,” authors wrote.
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