APRONS- BOON OR BANE?
Journal Title: Journal of Evidence Based Medicine and Healthcare - Year 2017, Vol 4, Issue 12
Abstract
BACKGROUND Aprons have long been a doctor’s ornamental and symbolic professional wear when a doctor has been recognised, respected and valued as very significant person if he wore a long sleeved white coat with a stethoscope around the neck in the past. There have been many studies done about the safety of wearing aprons by the medical professionals and many countries like Great Britain have discarded and abandoned the use of long white coats as it is considered a serious threat with regards to the nosocomial infections. In India, it has still been a custom and code that a doctor and medical students wear aprons in the Hospital. Various studies have proved that aprons worn by doctors carry dangerous microbial flora. Hence, a prospective study is done to cognise the question if “Aprons are a boon or bane?.” MATERIALS AND METHODS This was a prospective study done to identify the bacteriological flora present on the aprons of 150 students in our institute NRIIMS, Visakhapatnam. The institutional approval and ethical committee clearance were taken. The swabs were taken from the pocket region of the aprons of all the students. The collected swabs were immediately sent to the microbiology department in different culture media including nutrient agar, blood agar and Robertson’s Cooked Meat broth. RESULTS Various bacteria are identified namely; 1. Gram-positive bacilli; 2. Micrococci; 3. Coagulase-negative staphylococcus; 4. Grampositive cocci; 5. Micrococci with gram-positive bacilli; 6. Micrococci with aerobic spore bearing bacilli; 7. Gram-negative coccobacilli; 8. Gram-positive bacilli with ASB. The significance of the study is that majority of the identified organisms were normal body flora. Out of 150 aprons, 38 aprons were found to be sterile and one or more of above-mentioned flora are identified in 112 aprons. 25 out of 38 aprons, which were found sterile were washed regularly at least once in 7 days. 74 (49.2%) aprons are found to be having micrococci. 32.6% are with rest of the identified bacteria are namely gram-positive bacilli with ASB and other polymicrobials. Another significant point of the study is the % of sterility decreased as the number of days since the aprons washed increased. Least contamination is found in aprons washed regularly. 100% contamination is found in aprons not washed for more than a month. The x2 test is applied to test the significance. The test value is 41.5939 with 27 d.f. is significant at 0.05 level of significance P<0.05. CONCLUSION According to our study, although it appears that aprons can be safely worn as no harmful flora was identified on culture from aprons, it is still necessary to maintain 100% sterility to prevent even opportunistic infections in immune compromised patients. Apart from other sterility measures with regards to aprons, it is necessary to wash aprons on regular basis to maintain the safety of wearing aprons and to safeguard the patients. Hence, aprons can be either boon or bane when appropriately used.
Authors and Affiliations
Sri Krishna Prakash Sistu, Anullekha Naidu
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP214019
- DOI 10.18410/jebmh/2017/126
- Views 132
- Downloads 0
A STUDY ON LID TUMOURS
BACKGROUND Eyelid lesions are categorised into inflammatory, infectious and neoplastic. Among tumours encountered by ophthalmologist, most common neoplasms are those of eyelids. This study is to evaluate the incidence, m...
MODALITIES OF MANAGEMENT OF VERNAL KERATOCONJUNCTIVITIS
BACKGROUND: Ocular allergy is a common disorder which can be debilitating for patients and, at times, challenging for physicians to diagnose and treat. Allergic disease affects 30–50% of the population. Vernal kerato con...
PROGNOSTIC UTILITY OF GLASGOW ALCOHOLIC HEPATITIS SCORE (GAHS) IN ALCOHOLIC HEPATITIS
BACKGROUND Severe alcoholic hepatitis is associated with high mortality, 40-50% mortality at one month has been reported. Many scoring systems have been applied to predict survival in alcoholic hepatitis. Patients with h...
PANCREATIC ALPHA CELL DYSFUNCTION IN DIABETES MELLITUS AND ITS MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES
BACKGROUND Diabetes mellitus has primarily centered around the insulin deficiency owing to pancreatic beta-cell dysfunction or loss and associated insulin resistance. Recently, numerous findings indicate that defect of g...
A PROSPECTIVE STUDY OF POSSUM SCORING SYSTEM IN PATIENTS UNDERGOING EMERGENCY LAPAROTOMY FOR NON-TRAUMATIC PERITONITIS IN A TERTIARY CARE CENTER
BACKGROUND Peritonitis is a life-threatening condition; a uniform scoring system is a must to judge the efficacy in hospital care. It aids in selecting patients at high risk who require intensive management and also to p...