(Dr. Wagner, thank you very much!)
What Should Physicians Wear?
After 8 hours of wear, physicians' white coats and freshly laundered short-sleeved uniforms showed similar levels of bacterial contamination.
Evidence that physicians' white coats and other long-sleeved garments can be contaminated with bacteria including methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) has led British health authorities to ban such attire for clinicians. To examine the appropriateness of this action, researchers conducted a prospective trial in which they assessed bacterial contamination of physicians' clothing.
The study involved 100 internal medicine physicians at a Denver hospital in 2008 and 2009. These physicians were randomized to wear either their own white coats or newly laundered short-sleeved uniforms. Eight hours after the start of the workday, cultures were collected from multiple sites, including breast pockets, sleeve cuffs, and skin on the wrist of the dominant hand.
Levels of bacterial contamination were similar between the white coats and the newly laundered uniforms. In addition, the proportion of physicians with MRSA contamination of clothing or skin was similar between groups. The proportion varied somewhat among the culture sites, ranging from 6% at the mid-biceps area of the sleeve (white coats) to 18% at the breast pocket (uniforms). No correlation was seen between bacterial colony counts — or proportion of physicians with MRSA contamination — and self-reported frequency of laundering or changing of white coats.
Comment: This study did not directly address the question of whether physicians' clothing affects patients' risk for exposure to pathogens, but the findings do not suggest that clinicians need to change how they dress. That up to 18% of participants had MRSA cultured from the breast pockets of their clothing shows the ubiquity of this pathogen and highlights the need for further efforts in promoting hand hygiene.
Richard T. Ellison III, MD
Published in Journal Watch Infectious Diseases March 9, 2011
Nenhum comentário:
Postar um comentário