VARIABILITY OF LABORATORY COAT RESISTANCE TO BLOOD STRIKETHROUGH

Protection from contamination by potentially infectious fluids is an i ncreasingly important aspect of hospital safety programs. Technical pe rsonnel in clinical laboratories may handle numerous samples of human blood and other fluids daily, and to protect themselves against exposu re to bloodborne pathogens they routinely wear laboratory coats. We st udied the effectiveness of six disposable (polypropylene; either spun- bond or spun-bond/melt-blown/spun-bond construction) and four reusable (polyester-cotton) laboratory coats in preventing blood passage. Fabr ics (1018 samples) were tested at six time durations (1 s-5 min) and f ive pressures [1.7-13.8 kPa (0.25-2.0 psi)]. A standard spray test use d to evaluate resistance to wetting showed that reusable coats were le ss repellent than disposables (P <0.05). Pressure testing showed that reusable and spun-bond coats allowed greater blood passage than the sp un-bond/melt-blown/spun-bond. Laboratory coats should be chosen that h ave sufficient resistance to blood or other body fluid passage for the task performed and for the period of time used.