Contamination of protective clothing and nurses' uniforms in an isolation ward

Babb, J.R.; Davies, J.W.L.; Ayliffe, G.A.J.

doi:10.1016/0195-6701(83)90044-0

Cited by 76 publications

(43 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…4 In both cases a bootstrap method was used to estimate the confidence intervals.5 These intervals were calculated in two ways: firstly, for this particular group of pathologists (fixed observers) and, secondly, for pathologists in general (random observers), based on the assumption that this particular group is a random sample from the pool of potential observers. A x value of 1-0 indicates perfect agreement, zero indicates…”

Section: Methods and Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Microbial flora on doctors' white coats.

Wong

Nye

Hollis

1991

BMJ

175

128

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Section: Methods and Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Microbial flora on doctors' white coats.

Wong

Nye

Hollis

1991

BMJ

175

128

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“…Boyce and colleagues 6 found that 65% of nursing uniforms were contaminated with MRSA after performing morning patient-care activities on patients with MRSA wound or urine infections. Perry and colleagues 9 found that 39% of uniforms that were laundered at home were contaminated with MRSA, vancomycin-resistant enterococci, or Clostridium difficile at the beginning of the work shift, increasing to 54% by the end of a 24-hour shift, and Babb and colleagues 20 found that nearly 100% of nurses' gowns were contaminated within the first day of use (33% with Staphylococcus aureus). Dancer 22 recently suggested that ''if staff were afforded clean coats every day, it is possible that concerns over potential contamination would be less of an issue.''…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Newly cleaned physician uniforms and infrequently washed white coats have similar rates of bacterial contamination after an 8‐hour workday: A randomized controlled trial

Burden

Cervantes

Weed³

et al. 2011

Journal of Hospital Medicine

110

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BACKGROUND:Governmental agencies in the United Kingdom and Scotland have recently instituted guidelines banning physicians' white coats and the wearing of long‐sleeved garments to decrease nosocomial transmission of bacteria.OBJECTIVE:Our aim was to compare the degree of bacterial and methicillin‐resistant Staphylococcus aureus contamination of physicians' white coats with that of newly laundered, standardized short‐sleeved uniforms after an 8‐hour workday and to determine the rate at which bacterial contamination of the uniform ensued.DESIGN:The design was a prospective, randomized controlled trial.SETTING:The setting was a university‐affiliated public safety‐net hospital.PARTICIPANTS:One hundred residents and hospitalists on an internal medicine service participated.INTERVENTION:Subjects wore either a physician's white coat or a newly laundered short‐sleeved uniform.MEASUREMENTS:Bacterial colony count and the frequency with which methicillin‐resistant Staphylococcus aureus was cultured from both garments over time were measured.RESULTS:No statistically significant differences were found in bacterial or methicillin‐resistant Staphylococcus aureus contamination of physicians' white coats compared with newly laundered short‐sleeved uniforms or in contamination of the skin at the wrists of physicians wearing either garment. Colony counts of newly laundered uniforms were essentially zero, but after 3 hours of wear they were nearly 50% of those counted at 8 hours.CONCLUSIONS:Bacterial contamination occurs within hours after donning newly laundered short‐sleeved uniforms. After 8 hours of wear, no difference was observed in the degree of contamination of uniforms versus infrequently laundered white coats. Our data do not support discarding long‐sleeved white coats for short‐sleeved uniforms that are changed on a daily basis. Journal of Hospital Medicine 2011. © 2011 Society of Hospital Medicine.

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“…These contaminated clothing act as a reservoir hence even after proper hand hygiene procedures, the hands of HCWs may get recontaminated allowing transmission of pathogens to patients or the environment. 3,8,15 In the present study, 70.3% of white coats were found to be contaminated with pathogenic bacteria. This is consistent with other studies that showed contamination of white coat ranging from 23% to 95%.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 91%