Report by: Rick Body, Specialist Registrar

Search checked by: Kevin Mackway-Jones, Consultant

Institution: Manchester Royal Infirmary, Manchester, UK

A short-cut review was carried out to establish whether there is any evidence that the use of fans spreads infection in clinical areas. A total of 102 papers was found using the reported searches, of which one presented the best evidence to answer the clinical question. The author, date and country of publication, patient group studied, study type, relevant outcomes, results and study weaknesses of this best paper are tabulated. It is concluded that there is no evidence that fans spread infections in clinical areas.

Clinical scenario

It is midsummer’s …