Microbial contamination of the near-patient environment is an acknowledged reservoir for nosocomial pathogens. The hospital bed and specifically bed rails have been shown to be frequently and heavily contaminated in observational and interventional studies. Whereas the complexity of bed rail design has evolved over the years, the microbial contamination of these surfaces has been incompletely evaluated. In many published studies, key design variables are not described, compromising the extrapolation of results to other settings. This report reviews the evolving structure of hospital beds and bed rails, the possible impact of different design elements on microbial contamination and their role in pathogen transmission. Our findings support the need for clearly defined standardized assessment protocols to accurately assess bed rail and similar patient zone surface levels of contamination, as part of environmental hygiene investigations.

中文翻译：

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“脱轨”：医院病床的设计，污染以及对其微生物生态的评估。

医院附近病原体的微生物污染是公认的医院病原体库。在观察和干预研究中，医院病床，特别是病床护栏已被证明经常被严重污染。尽管多年来床护栏设计的复杂性不断发展，但这些表面的微生物污染尚未得到全面评估。在许多已发表的研究中，没有描述关键的设计变量，从而损害了将结果外推到其他设置的可能性。该报告回顾了医院病床和病床护栏的不断发展的结构，不同设计元素对微生物污染的可能影响及其在病原体传播中的作用。