Evaluation of adenosine triphosphate bioluminescence-based system in rooms occupied by patients with methicillin resistant Staphylococcus

Background:Adenosine triphosphate(ATP)-based monitoring systems can detect the amount of organic matter that remains on hospital surfaces after cleaning.We evaluated an ATP-based monitoring system in assessing con-tamination of high touched objects in rooms occupied by patients on methicillin resistant S.aureus precautions.Methods:We compared the ATP to standard aerobic cultures as well as to gloved hand culture to predict risk of healthcare-worker hand contamination.Results:More than a third of high touch object surfaces were measured unclean with ATP yet only reflects about 5%chance of contaminating healthcare-workers’hands.Conclusions:Our study emphasizes the shortcomings of using the ATP system even in pathogen specific environ-ment such as surfaces in methicillin resistant S.aureus rooms.