Every shift, nurses balance two phones: the hospital-issued work phone and their personal phone. Work phones often get wiped down at the start of a shift and are included in hospital infection-prevention protocols. Personal phones? Not so much. They enter the hospital dirty and leave even dirtier, sharing the same hands, pockets, and surfaces as work phones all day long.
The Overlooked Carrier
Personal phones start the day after being used in cars, kitchens, bathrooms, and restaurants. They’re already carrying community bacteria before a nurse ever clocks in.
Once in the hospital, those personal devices:
•Share the same hands that provide patient care and handle work phones.
•Slip into the same pockets where work phones are kept.
•Get checked on breaks or in hallways for family texts, social media, or calls.
Unlike work phones, which are at least periodically wiped and monitored, personal phones often remain unaddressed by cleaning protocols, making them reservoirs of contamination that build throughout the shift.
Even the best hand hygiene doesn’t help if the phone being touched remains dirty.
Research Shows
•94–100% of healthcare workers’ phones harbor bacteria, including hospital-associated pathogens such as MRSA and VRE (Ulger et al., 2009).
•Work phones are sometimes targeted in hand-hygiene campaigns, but personal phones remain neglected, even though they share the same exposure.
•Phones stored in pockets and touched with bare hands provide perfect growth conditions, with bacteria doubling every 20 minutes.
•Surveys show healthcare workers rarely or inconsistently disinfect personal devices while at work (Brady et al., 2011).
WynnShieldâ„¢: Closing the Gap
Hospitals have standards for work phones, but personal phones need protection too. WynnShieldâ„¢ fills the gap by:
•Continuous Antimicrobial Action: Microban® technology works 24/7 to inhibit bacterial growth on WynnShield’s surface. (*Claims based on test method ISO 22196)
•Durable Through Use: Wiping the wrap doesn’t remove its built-in antimicrobial power.
•Peel-and-Replace Simplicity: At the end of a shift, peel it off—phone underneath is cleaner.