More than 60% of hospital nurses’ and doctors’ uniforms tested positive for potentially dangerous bacteria, according to a study published in the September issue of the American Journal of Infection Control.
 
A team of researchers led by Yonit Wiener-Well, MD, from the Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem, collected swab samples from three parts of the uniforms of 75 registered nurses and 60 medical doctors by pressing standard blood agar plates at the abdominal zone, sleeves’ ends and pockets.   
 
The researchers at this 550-bed, university-affiliated hospital found that exactly half of all the cultures taken, representing 65% of the RN uniforms and 60% of the MD uniforms, harbored pathogens. Of those, 21 cultures from RN uniforms and six cultures from MD uniforms contained multi-drug resistant pathogens, including eight cultures that grew methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.  Although the uniforms themselves may not pose a direct risk of disease transmission, these results indicate a prevalence of antibiotic resistant strains in close proximity to hospitalized patients.
 
“It is important to put these study results into perspective,” said APIC 2011 President Russell Olmsted, MPH, CIC.  “Any clothing that is worn by humans will become contaminated with microorganisms. The cornerstone of infection prevention remains the use of hand hygiene to prevent the movement of microbes from these surfaces to patients.”