The environment can play a marked
role in the transmission of micro- organism. The various hospital environments
are known to be colonized by nosocomial pathogen due to continual shedding by
patient. These environmental surfaces can then act as a source of contamination
of the physician’s white laboratory coat as he/she moves from patient to
patient or from room to room. One critical factor for transmission of micro-organism
from a person is the ability of that microbe to survive on that environmental
surface (Neely and Maley, 2000). Specifically, (Noskin et al., 1995) recovered Enterococci
from counter tops after 5 to 7 days and from bed rails at on day. (Rutala et al., 1983) counted the number of MRSA
on elevated surfaces such as counter tops, in room of patients with MRSA and
found up to 70 MRSA/Rodac plate on these inanimate surface. From the foregoing,
if the white laboratory coat of a physician happened to come in contact with
any of such contaminated areas, they will serve as a
source of transmission of
micro-organism to the coat, which may then serve to transmit the microbe to
other patients during care.
Since most nosocomial agents are
mainly skin commensals (Nester et al.,
2004), the patients’ skin can be a source of contamination of the physicians white
laboratory coat as the physicians gives aid to the patient. A study reported
that 65% of nurses who had performed patient care activities on patient with
MRSA in a wound or urine contaminated their nursing uniforms or gowns with MRSA
(Boyce et al., 1997).
Another major source (and probably
the most important) of microbial contamination of white laboratory coats is from
the hands of physicians. It is well known that hospital pathogens can be
transmitted from the hands of health care workers to patients (Boyce et al., 2002). A study by Pittet et al showed that compliance with hand
hygiene protocol is low among physicians (Pittet et al., 2000). This leads to their coat being contaminated since
they are often touched. The nostril of physicians can also contaminate their
white laboratory coats. This is because organisms like S. aureus are known to be commensals in the nasopharynx (Nester et
al., 2004). Wong et al showed that of
25 individual whose white laboratory coats yields S. aureus, 12 of them has S.
aureus in their nose and 11 strains has the same phage type as those found
in the subjects nose (Wonge et al
1997).