The White Coat of the Future

09/01/2011

Of course the machines of future hospitals will be different, but what about the clothes? While computers have shrunk from room-size to pocket-size over the years, physicians have continued wearing almost exactly the same white coats.
 
That situation may be about to change. A team of researchers has been working on a fabric scientifically designed to repel and kill bacteria that land on it, according to research presented at the Jefferson School of Population Health's “Building the Chain of Safety” summit, held in Philadelphia in June.
 
“Textiles in the health care environment are an excellent substrate for bacteria growth. It takes only a small amount of moisture, a little bit of grime or grease or dirt, which has a small amount of protein, and bacteria are very happy to proliferate,” said conference speaker Thomas J. Walsh, FACP, director of Cornell University's transplantation-oncology infectious diseases program and part of the research team working on the new fabric, known as VTT-003 or by its trade name, VESTEX™.

Read the full article at ACP Hospitalist

» Return to News