March 30, 2019
More than one-third of healthcare workers were contaminated with multi-drug resistant organisms (MDRO) after caring for patients colonized or infected with the bacteria, according to a study published today in Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology, the journal of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America. The study found that 39 percent of workers made errors in removing personal protective equipment (PPE), including gowns and gloves, increasing the incidence of contamination.
“Based on these findings, we should reevaluate strategies for removing personal protective equipment, as well as how often healthcare workers are trained on these methods,” said Koh Okamoto, MD, MS, a lead author of the study. “An intervention as simple as education about appropriate doffing of personal protective equipment may reduce healthcare worker contamination with multi-drug resistant organisms.”
Researchers at Rush University Medical Center monitored 125 healthcare workers