Long-sleeved medical workers' coats and their microbiota

Abstract

In this study we aimed to assess the contamination rate of long-sleeved medical workers' coats (N = 100) in a point-prevalence study. Ninety-one percent of the coats were contaminated with normal human flora, but only the minority (9%) showed presence of pathogenic non-multiresistant bacteria. The data of this study may implicate that long-sleeved coats harbor low risk for the treated patients to be contaminated with pathogenic bacteria during medical consultation.

Keywords: Bacterial contamination; antimicrobial susceptibility; long-sleeved medical workers' coats; point-prevalence study; species identification.