Fleece warm-up jackets

QUESTION: As a gift, our medical director wants to buy all OR, postanesthesia care unit, and anesthesia staff members fleece jackets embroidered with our first names and the surgery center logo. The medical director thinks fleece jackets and hats that are all the same color will look more professional and also build camaraderie among staff members. Is it appropriate wear fleece jackets in the OR?

ANSWER: Fleece warm-up jackets are not acceptable attire for the perioperative setting. AORN's "Recommended practices for surgical attire" describes appropriate surgical attire as garments made of approved, multi-use, woven fabric or nonwoven, single-use fabric that produces minimal lint to minimize bacterial shedding and provides comfort, safety, and a professional appearance. (1)

Air in the perioperative environment contains microbial-laden dust, lint, skin squamae, and respiratory droplets. (2) Fleece tends to produce lint, which may raise the particle count of contaminants in the perioperative environment. Fleece also may harbor lint from other fabrics or may collect airborne contaminants. Personnel wearing fleece warm-up jackets in the perioperative environment, therefore, have the potential to place patients at an increased risk of a surgical site infection. (3)

An alternative solution is to purchase warm-up jackets designed for perioperative use that are constructed of nonlinting fabrics. These jackets also could be embroidered with the surgery center's logo. Because AORN's recommended practices state that surgical attire should be changed daily or whenever it becomes soiled, however, the surgery center would need to ensure that there is an adequate inventory of warm-up jackets so that personnel could wear at least one clean jacket every day.' This may make it impractical to have individual names embroidered on the jackets.

Instead of purchasing fleece jackets for the perioperative environment, coats or windbreakers could be designed for outdoor wear to be worn exclusively outside the surgery center. Coats with your surgery center's logo would identify you as proud employees and also would promote your surgery center within the community.

REFERENCES

(1.) Recommended practices for surgical attire. In: Perioperative Standards and Recommended Practices. Denver CO: AORN, Inc; 2008:285-291.

(2.) Mangram A, Horan TC, Pearson ML, Silver LC, Jarvis WR. Guideline for prevention of surgical site infection, 1999. Hospital Infection Control Advisory Committee. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol. 1999; 20:250-278.

(3.) Philips N. Berry & Kohn's Operating Room Technique. 11th ed. St Louis, MO: Mosby; 2007:273.

MARY OGG

RN, MSN, CNOR

PERIOPERATIVE NURSING SPECIALIST

AORN CENTER FOR NURSING PRACTICE

COPYRIGHT 2008 Association of Operating Room Nurses, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning