Group says health care attire should stay in hospitals

[Guest guest]

By Weaver PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW

Monday, February 21, 2011

It's common to see someone wearing scrubs outside a hospital, but organizations

devoted to stopping the spread of infectious diseases hope to change that.

" It's not what medical professionals bring into the hospitals; it's what they

bring out, " said Dr. Betsy McCaughey, founder of the Committee to Reduce

Infection Deaths in New York City.

Nurses' uniforms can contain Clostridium difficile, or C. diff, a common

bacteria that can cause violent diarrhea, McCaughey said. The risk is greatest

during warm months when caregivers don't wear coats and their uniforms are

exposed when they go home or run errands after work, she said.

Dr. Bell of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta

said many health care workers are not required to remove their scrubs before

leaving work.

" The majority of scrubs currently worn in health care facilities are equivalent

to street clothes in terms of infection control. Thus gowns and hand hygiene

used as part of standard precautions should be implemented regardless of

attire, " he said.

McCaughey, former lieutenant governor of New York, said health care providers

should consider prohibiting scrubs outside the hospital.

" Nurses and nursing students wear their scrubs home, and they're busy, so they

pick up their children and make dinner, " McCaughey said. " They're carrying

bacteria into their home. "

C. diff enters the body through the mouth. Caregivers can carry the spores on

their uniforms and contaminate a surface.

" They go into a local deli, sit down on a booth and deposit the spores. Someone

else touches that booth and picks up a sandwich and swallows C. diff, " McCaughey

said.

The ideal solution, McCaughey said, would be for hospitals to launder medical

garments on-site.

At the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center's 20 hospitals, no written policy

prevents employees from wearing scrubs outside the hospital, spokeswoman

Manko said.

" It's common sense, " she said. " You don't want to leave with dirty scrubs on and

go and get a cup of coffee. "

Employees working in UPMC's operating rooms present identification cards to get

clean scrubs, then return them to a laundry service when done.

The scrubs a doctor or nurse wears outside of work are not necessarily dirty,

Manko said.

" A lot of time surgeons will go to have lunch, and they'll shower and change

into clean scrubs because they're comfortable, " she said. " Or there are times

when they're in their offices all day and never see a patient. "

West Penn Allegheny Health System's dress code dictates employees who work in

clinical areas report to work in street clothes. They are then provided with

scrubs that are laundered by the hospital. They change back into their street

clothes at the end of the day, spokesman Dan t said.

The workers are prohibited from wearing the scrubs off West Penn property.

Jefferson Regional Medical Center provides clean scrubs daily for staffers

working in operating rooms, cardiac catheterization labs and interventional

radiology, said spokeswoman Candy . Employees do not wear those scrubs

outside of the hospital.

However, Jefferson staff members working in non-invasive areas, including the

emergency room, buy and launder their own scrubs, which can be worn to and from

work. Physicians at Jefferson are responsible for their lab coats, but they do

not wear them into restricted or semi-restricted areas of the invasive procedure

departments, said.

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