ArticleInfection prevention in practice2026
Electronic measurement of frequency and duration of close nurse-patient contacts during patient care in intensive and intermediate care units: a cross-sectional observational study.
Article in Infection prevention in practice, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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Abstract
Background: Healthcare workers face elevated infection risks by droplet or airborne transmissible pathogens during close patient care, but objective data on actual exposure patterns are scarce. Methods: We measured nurse-patient contacts (less than 1.5 metres from the patient's head) using Bluetooth Low Energy transmitters on one respiratory intensive care unit (ICU) (December 2020-February 2021) and one respiratory intermediate care unit (IMU) (August 2021) at a German university hospital. Contact frequency, average duration, and cumulative exposure time per 8-h shift were analysed by ward and work shift. Results: ICU nurses had on average 80.3 contacts per shift (mean duration = 46.8 s); IMU nurses had 27.9 contacts (43.6 s). Cumulative time <1.5 metres was 31.8 min in the ICU vs 9.6 min in the IMU. Exposure peaked during early shifts in both units. Differences between ICU and IMU were statistically significant ( Conclusion: This study provides the first objective measurements of nurse-patient exposure in ICU and IMU care. ICU nurses experienced substantially higher frequency and duration of close contacts.
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