Frequent Contamination of Healthcare Worker Scrubs

Frequent Contamination of Healthcare Worker Scrubs

Bacterial contamination of healthcare workers' uniforms: a randomized controlled trial of antimicrobial scrubs.

BACKGROUND Healthcare workers' (HCWs) uniforms become contaminated with bacteria during normal use, and this may contribute to hospital-acquired infections. Antimicrobial uniforms are currently marketed as a means of reducing this contamination. OBJECTIVE To compare the extent of bacterial contamination of uniforms and skin when HCWs wear 1 of 2 antimicrobial scrubs or standard scrubs. DESI...

Associations between bacterial contamination of health care workers' hands and contamination of white coats and scrubs.

BACKGROUND Uniforms are potential reservoirs for hospital organisms, potentially reinfecting the hands of health care workers (HCWs). The study aimed to determine the association between the bacterial contamination of HCWs' hands and uniforms (white coats and scrubs). METHODS HCWs working in 5 intensive care units had cultures obtained from their hands and uniforms (white coats or scrubs). Pa...

Healthcare Worker Seroconversion in SARS Outbreak

Serum samples were obtained from healthcare workers 5 weeks after exposure to an outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). A sensitive dot blot enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, complemented by a specific neutralization test, shows that only persons in whom probable SARS was diagnosed had specific antibodies and suggests that subclinical SARS is not an important feature of the dise...

Healthcare worker influenza vaccination in nursing homes.

To the Editor: The report on “Healthcare Worker Influenza Vaccination in Nursing Homes”1 is very interesting. Campbell et al1 reported that “Given that [nursing homes] generally have low employee influenza vaccination rates, it may be necessary to target lowperforming facilities to achieve substantial improvements.” In fact, the problem of prevention for influenza among paramedical personnel an...