Is your car boot always full of belongings or is it spotless? Well, either way, it could still be a lot dirtier than it appears to the naked eye. A recent study from Aston University, which can be viewed here, suggests that your car could have more germs than the average toilet seat, with the car boot being the worst affected.
The researchers, including Dr Jonathan Cox from Aston University in Birmingham, swabbed the interiors of several different cars with ‘varied ownerships’. The study found that the car boot, the driver’s seat and the gearstick harboured the most bacteria. The car boot had alarmingly high levels of E.coli bacteria, commonly known as faecal bacteria. In fact, 1,425 bacteria were identified in the car boot versus the average toilet seat where only 34 bacteria were identified. Since receiving the results, the researchers have been urging drivers to clean the interior of their cars more frequently to reduce bacteria.
This was a random study and understandably community nurses are more likely to keep a cleaner boot to protect their patients. However, this alarming research may still be concerning given a nurses appreciation for infection prevention and control. The Community Kit Bag supports IPC because it can be easily disinfected using wipes before, during and after visiting patients. The bag even enables nurses to separate their stock inside the bag so it doesn’t need to touch the car boot surfaces. We’re urging community care teams to #GetYourBootBack, not only for organisational and efficiency purposes but also to facilitate and enhance existing IPC practices.
If you’d like to enquire about a Community Kit Bag for your organisation, please see here for details.