The Times They Are A- Changing! To quote Simon and Garfunkel.Who would of thought that local community hospitals would now be exploring bare below the elbows (BBE)?
Yesterday I had the pleasure of delivering an invited lecture at Sentara Hospital, Suffolk, Virginia, where hospital leadership is exploring an attire change. The topic was healthcare worker apparel and bare below the elbows as an infection prevention adjunct.
Barriers to apparel change include tradition, identity and the need for pockets (to carry instruments etc). This was formally studied and published here.
Apparel habits can be changed in favor of a BBE approach without a hard mandate. Bare below the elbows is an infection prevention recommendation at VCU and our compliance is > 70%. The trick is to provide alternatives to the standard white coats. This includes raising awareness, education, providing feedback and encouraging the use uniforms and team vests with hospital/service line logos.
The new white coat is a cool black vest, as written by Mike Edmond.
Get with the program.
