Figure 2.

Quantification of bacterial contamination on practitioner stethoscopes before and after cleaning. Knecht et al⁴⁸ performed a molecular analysis of provider stethoscope contamination before and after either standard cleaning with hydrogen peroxide, or cleaning according to provider preference. The dashed line represents the mean bacterial contamination present on clean stethoscopes. In the standard cleaning group, 5/10 stethoscopes fell below the clean line. In the practitioner cleaning group, 2/10 stethoscopes fell below the clean line. Both groups demonstrated a significant, but not complete, reduction in contamination (P = .00174). Figure reproduced with permission from publisher (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK).