Philip Lederer discute su The Conversation  della necessità di abbandonare il camice bianco negli ospedali.

You wouldn’t want to be cared for by a doctor who doesn’t wash his or her hands. You wouldn’t want to be operated on with instruments that weren’t sterilized or stay in a hospital room that wasn’t cleaned regularly. Why would you want to be treated by a doctor wearing a white coat that hasn’t been washed in a week? Many white coats are covered in bacteria like MRSA – they are dirty. And it’s time to hang them up for good.

Un camice contaminato potrebbe contribuire alla diffusione di patogeni, come dichiarato dalla Society of Healthcare Epidemiology, anche se non ci sono prove a riguardo.

Eli Perencevich and Mike Edmond, physicians at the University of Iowa, have studied this issue in depth. They admit that while transmission to patients hasn’t been definitely proven, there is strong circumstantial evidence that it could occur. But no one has ever funded the necessary studies to find out for sure.

Abbandonare il camice potrebbe però essere complesso, in quanto i pazienti sembrano preferirlo ad altri abbigliamenti:

A few months ago Dr Vineet Chopra and Dr Sanjay Saint wrote an article arguing that patients prefer white coats.

Un articolo basato su una ricerca effettuata in Scozia però mostra risultati diversi:

And patients felt an impression of cleanliness and good personal hygiene were more important. In fact, patients preferred a “smart casual” style of dress, which conformed with a “bare below the elbows” dress code policy. This would presumably reduce the transmission of bacteria to patients if rigorous handwashing were employed.