JOIN USA member of medical fraternity has warned that the ubiquitous white coat of doctors may harbour micro-organisms that may be transmitted to patients and cause dangerous infections.
Hospital doctors, including student and resident doctors, wear white coats for three reasons: Easy identification, as a hospital dress code and for a professional image. But since most of these coats are washed once in a week – or sometimes in two weeks – they are the source of a large number of infections.
“White coats are often contaminated with Staphylococcus aureus, and many isolates are resistant to methicillin. A 2012 study in Bengaluru found that the most contaminated area was the sides of the coat followed by the collar and pocket,” said Edmond Fernandes, a young doctor at the Department of Community Medicine, Yenepoya Medical College, Mangaluru.
Several studies from other nations give a clear indication of how dangerous the white coats are. The UK banned them in 2007. The Bengaluru study, conducted by doctors from Bengaluru Medical College and Research Institute, found several drug resistant varieties of Staphylococcus.
In India, changing areas in hospitals are rare due to space constraints. So white coats are commonly worn by students coming from college and outside the hospital. They are often left on chairs, tables and in corridors. Doctors and medical students tend to wear their coats to the library, cafeteria and toilet. In many Indian cities, junior doctors are seen wearing white coats in shopping malls and cinemas. Then they enter sterile zones in the hospital in the same attire.
“Given India’s tropical climate, is there any point in wearing a white coat over the shirt? We sweat a lot and these coats are washed after 1-2 weeks. The government must ban the white coats, at least the long sleeves ones that are more risky,” Fernandes told Deccan Herald. He has also written an opinion piece in the British Medical Journal.
The high rates of the bacterial contamination come from patients, who are treated in hospital. As doctors are in touch with the patients, the pathogens get transferred to the clothes and thrive.
The micro-organisms can survive between 10 and 98 days on fabrics like cotton and polyester that are used to make white coats. “The incidence of hospital-acquired infection is about 10 per cent,” says Bengaluru e doctor Asima Banu in her 2012 study. Besides the coats, other common sources of hospital-acquired infections are stethoscopes and mobile phones.