Bacterial Contamination of Workwear - Full Text View

Purpose

Governmental agencies in the United Kingdom and Scotland have recently instituted guidelines banning physicians' white coats and wearing of long-sleeved garments to decrease hospital transmission of bacteria. The purpose of this study is to compare the bacterial contamination of physicians' white coats with that of newly laundered, standardized short-sleeved uniforms after an eight-hour workday and to determine the rate at which bacterial contamination of the uniform ensues. Our hypothesis was that the physician white coat would have more bacterial contamination at the end of the work day.

Condition	Intervention
Bacterial Contamination of Physician Attire	Other: Physician uniform

Study Type:	Interventional
Study Design:	Allocation: Randomized Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment Masking: Open Label Primary Purpose: Treatment
Official Title:	Physician Dress Code And Microbial Colonization Of The White Coat: Does Physician Dress Code Alter Bacterial Colonization Rate On The Clothing Of Physicians?

Further study details as provided by Denver Health and Hospital Authority:

Primary Outcome Measures:

Bacterial colony counts and the frequency with which methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus was found over time [ Time Frame: 8 hours ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]

Enrollment:	110
Study Start Date:	April 2008
Study Completion Date:	November 2009
Primary Completion Date:	November 2009 (Final data collection date for primary outcome measure)

Arms	Assigned Interventions
No Intervention: White coat group Participants continued their regular practice of wearing their physician white coat.
Experimental: Uniform group Participants were given a clean uniform (scrubs) at the beginning of the day.	Other: Physician uniform Participants were given a clean uniform (scrubs) on the day of the study. They wore this for approximately 8 hours.

Detailed Description:

Governmental agencies in the United Kingdom and Scotland have recently instituted guidelines banning physicians' white coats and wearing of long-sleeved garments to decrease nosocomial transmission of bacteria. Our goal 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 eight-hour workday and to determine the rate at which bacterial contamination of the uniform ensues. 100 interns, residents, and hospitalists on an internal medicine service were randomized to wear either physician white coat or newly laundered, short-sleeved uniform. Bacterial colony counts and the frequency with which methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus was found was compared in the two groups and over time. Our initial hypothesis was that physician white coats would have more bacterial contamination at the end of the work day.

Eligibility

Genders Eligible for Study:	Both
Accepts Healthy Volunteers:	Yes

Criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

Internal medicine interns, residents, and hospitalists working on acute medicine ward service.

Exclusion Criteria:

Not willing/unable to participate in study
Not working a full 8 hour day in the hospital

Contacts and Locations

Please refer to this study by its ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT01192841

Locations

United States, Colorado
Denver Health
Denver, Colorado, United States, 80204

Sponsors and Collaborators

Denver Health and Hospital Authority

Investigators

Principal Investigator:

Marisha Burden, MD

Denver Health and Housing Authority

More Information

No publications provided by Denver Health and Hospital Authority

Additional publications automatically indexed to this study by ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier (NCT Number):

Burden M, Cervantes L, Weed D, Keniston A, Price CS, Albert RK. Newly cleaned physician uniforms and infrequently washed white coats have similar rates of bacterial contamination after an 8-hour workday: a randomized controlled trial. J Hosp Med. 2011 Apr;6(4):177-82. Epub 2011 Feb 10.

Responsible Party:	Marisha Burden, MD, Denver Health and Hospital Authority
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:	NCT01192841 History of Changes
Other Study ID Numbers:	07-1137
Study First Received:	August 30, 2010
Last Updated:	August 30, 2010
Health Authority:	United States: Institutional Review Board

Keywords provided by Denver Health and Hospital Authority:

physician uniform
MRSA
bacterial contamination

ClinicalTrials.gov processed this record on May 21, 2013