How Does a Lab Coat Cause Infection?

The traditional image of a doctor in a white lab coat might soon be a thing of the past, thanks to medication resistant "superbugs."

Hospitals in the United Kingdom are already banning lab coats, ties and scrubs worn below the elbow in an effort to prevent cross contamination and outbreaks of MRSA - methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.

Some hospitals in the U.S. are following suit, putting procedures in place to ensure that scrubs and lab coats are laundered more frequently and not worn outside the hospital.

How Lab Coats Become Soiled

• Doctors spend all day touching surfaces -- counter tops, clipboards, random pens, the staff coffee machine -- and patients. They also touch their lab coats -- their hands and wrists dust the cuffs, they reach for stethoscopes and pens in pockets, they button and unbutton the coat. In addition, many doctors wear their lab coats beyond the doors of the hospital, picking up outside bacteria and spreading hospital bacteria.

MRSA

• MRSA is a staph infection generally transmitted via skin contact. Staph infections are common among those who play team contact sports or who live in crowded conditions. MRSA becomes serious when the immune system is weak -- as many post-surgical or elderly hospital patients are. MRSA, as the name indicates, is drug resistant and difficult to treat. Severe cases lead to death.

C. difficile

• Hospital surfaces are coated with deadly bacteria.

  C. difficile (Clostridium difficile) is a fecal infection transmitted via surfaces. For example, someone with the C. difficile bacteria on their hands touches a surface. The next person touches that surface, and then eats a sandwich without washing their hands. They ingest the bacteria, which causes diarrhea and inflammation of the colon. Severe cases can lead to death.

Changes in Hospital Policy

• Budget cuts and changes to hospital policy are a part of why lab coats, scrubs and other hospital attire have become so controversial in the spreading of disease. Hospitals used to provide freshly laundered lab coats and scrubs to doctors, but due to funding cuts, doctors became responsible for their own laundry. This means some doctors wear the same unwashed lab coat for more than a week at a time.

  Many hospitals are now either banning the wearing of lab coats, or are once again providing laundry services in-house in an effort to bring infection rates down.

How to Protect Yourself

• If you are facing a hospital stay, there are a few things you can do to protect yourself. The main thing is frequent hand washing. If you are bedridden and unable to get to the sink very often, keep a bottle of hand sanitizer nearby.

  As a patient, you are in no way out of line by asking any doctor or nurse examining you to wash their hands before they do. Even if they claim they just did it, you have the right as a patient to ask them to do so in your room. Your health depends on it. The same goes for requesting they roll up sleeves, tuck back ties or put on gloves or other disposable protective gear.

  Though any hospital should be responsible for cleaning rooms, keeping Lysol or other disinfectant wipes nearby to clean your food table, telephone or other surfaces can be helpful in reducing the spread of germs.