A PSA
A study done in Scotland showed that most doctors have never laundered their ties, and their coats are laundered very seldom. 80% of their ties carried antibiotic resistant MRSA. Garments and clothing have been plague vectors for centuries, but that study did worry me, because it was so recently done.
If you are immuno-compromised and in the hospital, I’d leave a demand at the desk that no one wearing unnecessary clothing or superficial emblems of masculine professionalism be allowed to examine you, particularly if you are female.
I don’t want to even contemplate hospital linens.
Hey Simon, do you maybe have the link to that study, or the name of it perhaps so that we can look it up and share it?
I’ll get it for you. Give me a minute.
Several:
!. Ditchburn, “Should Doctors Wear Ties?,” Journal of Hospital Infection 63 (2006): 227
Pedro-Jose Lopez et al., “Bacterial Counts from Hospital Doctors’ Ties Are Higher Than Those from Shirts,” American Journal of Infection Control 37, no. 1 (2009): 79-80
Carol Potera, “Clothing Spreads Spores,” Environmental Health Perspectives109, no. 8 (2001): A 354
My dad was a doctor and he stopped wearing his white coat and tie for this very reason. Also the tie can be a health risk for the doctor – if you think about it having a long, dangling strip of cloth tied in a slip knot arpund your neck is probably not the best implement to wear in a hands on line of work. Too much stuff for it to get caught in or dragged through.
Indeed so. Good on your dad.
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