title: White coats: how long should doctors wear them?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  While coat contamination increases progressively with the duration of use, there are no guidelines on how frequently medical white coats should be changed. The purpose of our study was to examine the turnover of individual batch of medical white coats in a university hospital.
  
  
  METHODS
  A retrospective analysis of the white coat turnover of 826 physicians was performed by using the hospital laundry computerized database and an electronic declarative survey (240 responses) to evaluate the duration of medical white coat use.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There was a wide discrepancy between the data extracted from the laundry database and those from the survey. The median factual duration of use (20 days, range: 15-30) corresponding to a turnover of 2 (1-2) coats per month, was widely underestimated by the physicians. Multivariate analysis identified 4 independent factors associated with a declared use of coats longer than 7 days: estimation of insufficient gown turnover (OR 14.8 [4.8-45.8]), daily change considered as not useful (OR 5.1 [2.4-10.8]), non-medical specialty (OR 2.95 [1.5-5.6]) and presence of stains on gowns (2.9 [1.5-5.5]).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Shortening white coat use should be included in medical education in order to improve the good practice rules of hospital hygiene.
authors.affiliation: Service d'anesthésie et de réanimation chirurgicale, CHU de Nantes, hôtel-Dieu, hôpital Mère-Enfant, 44093 Nantes, France.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Gouraud
authors.affiliation: Service d'anesthésie et de réanimation chirurgicale, CHU de Nantes, hôtel-Dieu, hôpital Mère-Enfant, 44093 Nantes, France.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Dumont
authors.affiliation: Service d'anesthésie et de réanimation chirurgicale, CHU de Nantes, hôtel-Dieu, hôpital Mère-Enfant, 44093 Nantes, France.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Asehnoune
authors.affiliation: Service d'anesthésie et de réanimation chirurgicale, CHU de Nantes, hôtel-Dieu, hôpital Mère-Enfant, 44093 Nantes, France. Electronic address: corinne.lejus@chu-nantes.fr.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lejus
mesh_terms: D003020:Clothing / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D003625:Data Collection; D016208:Databases, Factual; D005602:France; D006785:Hospitals, University; D006801:Humans; D006920:Hygiene / Q000592:standards*; D007847:Laundry Service, Hospital / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D010820:Physicians; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: Blouses blanches; Hospital hygiene; Hygiène hospitalière; Infections nosocomiales; Nosocomial infections; White coat