Tracking perinatal infection: is it safe to launder your scrubs at home?

This descriptive pilot study was conducted during 1991 and 1992 to determine the effect of wearing home-laundered scrub clothing in labor and delivery on the perinatal infection rate.

Unit meetings were conducted to instruct the 68 participating employees to launder their scrub clothing in an automatic washing machine, and to dry them in an automatic dryer on a hot setting. Statistics, including total births and cesarean births, were gathered, including all cesarean births during the years of 1991 and 1992 at the two study sites. Infection rates were monitored by the infection control department and reported frequently to the infection control committee and the medical and nursing staff. Employees were surveyed to assess their satisfaction after purchasing and wearing their own scrub clothing. The method for determining the perinatal infection rate in this study was based on the National Nosocomial Infections Surveillance System, which combines exogenous and endogenous factors when assessing the rate of wound infections(6). The method for monitoring the newborn infection rate in this study was outbreak surveillance.

Home-laundered scrub clothing can be worn safely in labor and delivery units, including the operating rooms contained in those units. This practice can reduce costs without increasing surgical wound infection rates.