Infectious diseases experts issue guidance on health-care personnel attire

Recommendations to help prevent health-care-associated infections transmitted through clothing. New guidance from the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA) provides recommendations to prevent transmission of healthcare-associated infections through healthcare personnel (HCP) attire in non-operating room settings. The guidance was published online in the February issue of Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology, the journal of the SHEA, along with a review of patient and healthcare provider perceptions of HCP attire and transmission risk, suggesting professionalism may not be contingent on the traditional white coat. “While studies have demonstrated the clothing of healthcare personnel may have a role in transmission of pathogens, the role of clothing in passing infectious pathogens to patients has not yet been well established,” said Gonzalo Bearman, MD, MPH, a lead author of the study and member of SHEA’s Guidelines Committee. “This document is an effort to analyze the available data, issue reasonable recommendations, define expert consensus, and describe...