Don't Throw Away Your White Coat Just Yet

Numerous studies have shown that clothes of healthcare workers are contaminated with pathogenic bacteria, such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). In the U.K., physicians' white coats and long-sleeved garments have been banned, but whether such actions lower bacterial contamination and subsequent transmission of nosocomial infections is unclear.

Researchers at a public hospital in Denver enrolled 100 residents and hospitalists on an internal medicine service; participants were randomized to wear either their own white coats or newly laundered short-sleeved uniforms. Bacterial contamination occurred rapidly (within 3 hours) on the short-sleeved uniforms and, after an 8-hour workday, no significant differences were found in …