Abolish the White Coats and Save Lives
We know them by their white coats. But with hospital-acquired infection (HAI) rates galloping out of control, with over tens of thousands of deaths per year, they may go the way of well, wikipedia. A new study has found that doctors' white coats are great carriers of infection as they pass from hospital room to hospital room, according to newswise.com. “White coats, neckties, and wrist watches can become contaminated and may potentially serve as vehicles to carry germs from one patient to another,” the Web site quotes Mark Rupp, M.D., chief of the division of infectious diseases at the University of Nebraska Medical Center and one of the authors of recommendations issued by the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA), one of the world’s top infection control organizations. Rupp acknowledges that there is not incontrovertible evidence that this is true but " Until better data are available, hospitals and doctor’s offices should first concentrate on well