To draw attention to the role healthcare worker attire can play in transmitting pathogens, Vestagen Technical Textiles, Inc. today launched a “Keep the Coat” awareness campaign. The effort intends to bring understanding that, with new technological advancements, what care providers wear can actually become a line of defense for them, their patients and their families.
A growing body of scientific evidence shows that traditional healthcare worker attire, such as a lab coat or scrubs, can carry and potentially spread harmful contaminants. Additional studies show healthcare workers experience high rates of exposure, colonization and infection. However, a groundbreaking textile technology that is a breathable antibacterial barrier fabric has been shown to reduce methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) on the fabric by 99.99 percent compared to traditional non-protective uniforms, according to a clinical study published in the journal of Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology. The results indicate new textile technologies can prevent or reduce contamination, providing protection without changing any caregiving practices.
“White coats are a deeply-rooted part of a physician’s professional identity, one that helps establish patient trust and confidence. It is also meant to function as a barrier to the unpleasant and harmful contaminants providers encounter every day,” said Uncas “Ben” B. Favret III, president and CEO of Vestagen. “We want healthcare leaders and care providers to understand the answer to this issue isn’t to take the coat away. The unintended consequence of removing the white coat is that contaminants would then have direct access to the provider’s street clothes, which can be carried throughout the facility and even home. With today’s textile advances, we believe there’s no need to ditch the white coat, we just need to improve it.”
