Hospital Acquired Infections Have Reached Near Epidemic Proportion.

Transfer Of Infection From One Patient To Another With
The Common Stethoscope Is A Major Risk Factor.

With the contributing risk factor of patient to patient transfer, which can transpire via the common stethoscope,

Hospital Acquired Infections (HAI) are now estimated to be the sixth leading cause of death in America.*

• One out of every 25 hospital patients contract a Hospital Acquired Infection¹
• Almost 2 million people suffer from Hospital Acquired Infections annually¹
• 99,000 people die annually from Hospital Acquired Infections¹
• One Chicago Tribune investigation indicated nearly 75,000 deaths from Hospital Acquired Infections were
  preventable, because they resulted from unsanitary facilities, germ-laden instruments and unwashed hands.²
• Stethoscopes have been identified as a major carrier of potentially hazardous microorganisms, and thus
  a contributing factor to Hospital Acquired Infections.³

The Cost Of Hospital Acquired Infections Is Adding Up Rapidly In Human Suffering And Rising Healthcare Costs.

• The average hospital stay increases 5 days when a patient contracts a Hospital Acquired Infection.⁴
• The cost for healthcare increases an average of $15,275 when a patient contracts a Hospital Acquired Infection.⁵
• Hospital Acquired Infections are one of the leading causes of hospital liability expenses.
• The estimated annual costs in the United States directly related to Hospital Acquired Infections is estimated
  to be $6.7 billion.⁴

Exposure To Infections From Common Medical Devices Such As The
Stethoscope Presents An Increasing Risk To Health.

With a growing and aging population that requires regular medical attention combined with an explosion of new, drug-resistant infections, healthcare workers are hard pressed to reduce risks of infection by traditional means.

Such measures as simply cleaning a stethoscope are increasingly overlooked.

• Over 90% of stethoscopes in use today are contaminated with some form of microorganism.⁶
• It has been documented that only 32 percent of healthcare workers clean stethoscopes regularly.⁷
• One study of 355 stethoscopes in a randomly selected medical facility revealed 234 carried at least two different types of bacteria, and 31 of the stethoscopes carried potentially pathogenic bacteria.³

There Has Never Been A Greater Need To Reduce Risk Of Exposure
To Infectious Germs On Unclean Stethoscopes.

* National Vital Statistics Report, Vol. 53, No. 15, Feb. 28, 2005
1. Klevens, Edwards, Richards, et al. Pub Health Rep 2007;122:160-6
2. “TRIBUNE INVESTIGATION: UNHEALTHY HOSPITALS”
Chicago Tribune (July 21, 2002)
3. Bernard, et al. Bacterial Contamination of Hospital Physicians’ Stethoscopes.
Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 1999;20:626-628
4. Graves N. Economics and preventing hospital-acquired infection. Emerg Infect Dis [serial online] 2004
Apr [16 Oct 2006]. Available from: http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/EID/vol10no4/02-0754.htm
5. Roberts, et al. HAI Economic Modeling. Clinical Infectious Diseases 2003:36 (1 June) 1424-1432
6. Parmar, et al. A prospective, randomised, double-blind study of comparative efficacy of immediate versus daily
cleaning of stethoscope using 66% ethyl alcohol. Indian Journal of Medical Science 2004;58:423-430
7. Genne, et al. Level of stethoscope contamination in the hospital environment. Schweiz Med Wochenschr.
1996 Dec 28;126(51-52):2237-40
© 2007 Microtek Medical, Inc. StethoClean is a trademark of St. Joseph Solutions, LLC.
US Patent No. 6,575,917 B2