Posted on 12/17/2006 8:35:48 PM PST by blam
Tie ban for doctors to stop spread of MRSA
By Alex Berry
Last Updated: 2:35am GMT 18/12/2006
Doctors have been ordered to ditch their ties over fears they are spreading the deadly hospital superbug MRSA.
An NHS trust has also told all its staff involved in direct patient care not to wear jewellery, wrist watches, scarves or any "superfluous clothing".
Even consultants have been warned that being smartly-dressed when giving patients bad news could present an infection risk.
The move, by Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust, follows a report by the British Medical Association calling for doctors to abandon their neckwear.
Matthew Fletcher, the trust's medical director, said: "Reducing our MRSA rates is at the top of this trust's list of priorities and the new dress code policy is part of a broad infection control strategy. The policy is about doing everything to minimise the risk of infections spreading.
"This includes removing clothing which prevents staff from washing their hands effectively.
"All staff, both male and female, involved in direct clinical care will be expected to not wear jewellery, wrist watches, ties, scarves, wraps and any superfluous clothing.
"We do know that this will involve a culture change as many doctors are used to wearing a jacket and tie, particularly when delivering bad news, and many patients expect doctors to look 'smart'.
"The simple fact is reducing the spread of infection is more important than looking smart and both doctors and patients need to accept that ties are not essential for the delivery of a professional service and good healthcare."
Dr Jonathan Fielden, chairman of the British Medical Association's consultants' committee, said that while doctors had previously been told to avoid wearing ties in areas where there was a high risk of infection, the latest ban seemed the most stringent.
"It does sound a particularly widespread ban," he said. "However, we are aware that combating hospital infections is a major concern.
"We also know that patients react not just to what someone wears, but also to their attitude and their general response to the patients.
"Bearing in mind the evidence around the transfer of infection, and the fact that patients are not as concerned as perhaps they used to be about how people are dressed, I think doctors should have less of a concern and one would hope that this policy has had discussion and agreement across staff groups."
However, Dr Michael Dixon, chairman of the NHS Alliance, which represents primary care trusts, and who wears a bow-tie at his GP surgery, said research showed patients had more confidence in smartly-dressed doctors.
"I certainly would feel less professional if I was not wearing a tie," he told The Sunday Times: "It is all right if you are an antipodean doctor but not in this country.
"This is political correctness rather than science."
The Brighton and Sussex trust, which includes the Princess Royal Hospital in Haywards Heath and the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton, has one of the highest rates of MRSA infection in England.
More than 3,500 cases of MRSA blood-stream infection were reported in NHS hospitals between October 2005 and March 2006 and the number of deaths where the superbug is named on death certificates has increased each year from 1993 to 2004.
That's it! I'm quiting medical school. No tie, no deal! ;D
wow. This stuff is spreading like wildfire all over the US too. I read about a number of cases in the Pacific Northwest and in the South. This stuff is REALLY scary
Why just ties and other "superfluous clothing"? If a tie can carry the bug, a pair of pants probably can, too. Take 'em off. Oh, and you lady docs...
I'm thinking it's because people don't normally wash ties in the laundry, where pants/shirts atleast get that.
BTTT
The next trend in shirts sold to doctors: a three-dimensional tie painted onto the shirt.
Why isn't the tie UNDER the white coat?
Darn - there goes the hijab for any Muslim female doctors. Deal with it.
I think I'll go into work tomorrow nekkid; after taking a shower of course.
My condolences.
Just when you finally start to break into a profession that pays enough to enable you to afford a decent wardrobe, yet still allows you to hold your head up in public....
...Next thing you know, they'll want you to set a "healthy example" by giving up your vehicle.
They would twist their way out of that one, no matter how many weeks of physical therapy were required to unkink themselves afterward
Supposedly it's because ties are rarely cleaned.
Ping. (Toss the tie,doc)
A "naked-nurses" ping.
Doctor ties 'to go in MRSA fight'
What's taken 'em so long?
Long fingernails on health care providers ought to go, too.
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