White coats: how long should doctors wear them?

Area of Science:

• Medical Microbiology
• Hospital Hygiene
• Infection Control

Background:

• Medical white coat contamination increases with duration of use.
• No current guidelines exist for the frequency of medical white coat changes.
• Understanding white coat turnover is crucial for hospital hygiene.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine the turnover rate of medical white coats in a university hospital setting.
• To identify factors influencing the duration of medical white coat use.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective analysis of 826 physicians' white coat turnover.
• Utilized hospital laundry database and electronic surveys for data collection.
• Assessed duration of medical white coat use.

Main Results:

• Significant discrepancy noted between laundry data and physician self-reported use.
• Median factual coat use was 20 days (2 coats/month), underestimated by physicians.
• Factors for extended use included perceived insufficient turnover, belief daily change is unnecessary, non-medical specialty, and visible stains.

Conclusions:

• Physicians significantly underestimate medical white coat usage duration.
• Medical white coat use duration should be shortened.
• Integrating education on white coat hygiene into medical training is recommended to improve hospital infection control practices.