Table 2.

A comparison of the concentrations and types of staphylococcal bacteria recovered from the bedside surfaces of bed-units occupied by MRSA-positive and MRSA-negative patients at 08:00 hours.

Types of Staphylococci and Sampling Sites		Mean cfu/cm2 ± Standard Error of Mean (SEM)
		MRSA-Positive		MRSA-Negative	p Value
		Bed-Units (n = 6)		Bed-Units (n = 30)
CNS					0.1953
Bedside table		N.D.		0.04 ± 0.03
Left-side handrail		0.39 ± 0.33		0.12 ± 0.09
Right-side handrail		1.94 ± 1.13		1.20 ± 1.13
Overbed rolling table		N.D.		0.29 ± 0.25
MSSA					Undetermined
Bedside table		N.D.		0.48 ± 0.39
Left-side handrail		N.D.		1.94 ± 1.83
Right-side handrail		N.D.		3.08 ± 2.17
Overbed rolling table		N.D.		0.02 ± 0.01
MRSA					0.0392
Bedside table		N.D.		0.68 ± 0.63
Left-side handrail		0.72 ± 0.72		6.37 ± 4.03
Right-side handrail		1.11 ± 0.98		0.57 ± 0.30
Overbed rolling table		2.11 ± 1.41		0.28 ± 0.14

Notes: A total of 36 bed-units were sampled in 6 separate days at 08:00 hours. The studied cubicle was fully occupied in all of those days, and only one MRSA-positive patient was included in each sampling day. The statistical difference in MSSA loadings between the MRSA-positive and MRSA-negative could not be determined, because the count for one comparison group was zero. N.D. = Non-detectable which means colony is absent in the petrifilm plate. The detection limit of the sampling technique was 1 cfu/Petrifilm (which is equivalent to cfu/cm²). Some of the mean cfu/cm² values presented in this table were smaller than the detection limit as influenced by a large number of 0 (non-detectable) values (refer to Table 3 for the percentage of the positive culture at each sampling site).