healthcare workers in general hospital units touch an average of ___ different surfaces during a single patient interaction.

Healthcare workers in general hospital units touch an average of 15.2 different surfaces during a single patient interaction.

This figure comes from observational research in medical-surgical (general) units, where staff were seen contacting multiple high-touch objects such as bedrails, over-bed tables, IV pumps, and bed surfaces, which together added up to roughly 15.2 distinct surface contacts per interaction.