A paper published this week in the Journal of Medical Internet Research found that using tablets in a clinical setting leads to a large amount of surface contamination, and that using an instructional app to sterilize the device can reduce the contamination.

The app chosen is deBac-app for iPad, which uses in-app sensors to ensure the iPad was properly cleaned. Results are logged in a file on the app and users can set an alarm for daily iPad sterilizations.

This April, a survey of 971 physicians found that about 74 percent already own or plan to buy an iPad in the next six months. The growth of iPads in a clinical setting called the attention of Dr Urs-Vito Albrecht, the author of the paper.

"With the use of highly mobile tools like tablet PCs in clinical settings, an effective disinfection method is a necessity," he wrote in the paper.

To conduct the trial, 10 new iPads were randomly distributed to members of the nursing staff of 10 clinical wards to be used for four weeks. The app was used daily and results were logged at the end. The research group then deployed the iPads to be used for four weeks without sanitation daily and results were logged again.

His analysis compared the use of iPads in a clinical and non-clinical setting. After the trial, Albrecht concluded that there was a reduction of 98.1 percent of microbes in a clinical setting and 99.4 percent in the nonclinical setting when measuring the quality of the guided standardized disinfection process.

The app used is available for free in the iTunes App Store and is the result of a collaboration between the hygiene experts of the Hanover Medical School, the Peter L. Reicherts Institute for Medical Informatics and the Frobese GmbH Informatikservices.