by KYW's Michelle Durham
Physicians in Great Britain have a new dress code: No more ties and long-sleeve lab coats. Jewelry and fake nails can also be a thing of the past as experts try to stop the spread of drug-resistant staph infections.
Britain may be on to something. A 2004 study of a doctor's ties at a New York hospital showed nearly half carried some sort of infectious microbe. Could US hospitals be next? Dr. Thomas Fekete is chief of infectious diseases at Temple University Hospital:
"I think it is a very interesting and sort of consistent philosophy to avoid many of the things that have potentially been implicated with infections. But, I think it's an experiment."
Dr. Fekete says US doctors will be watching carefully. He says some doctors here have already done away with lab coats, opting for short-sleeve scrubs. Why these urgent measures now? A combination of sicker patients with bugs that have become more drug resistant, and very few new antibiotics to treat them (read AP story).
E-Mail Story
Print Story
