Lap-band surgeon Dr. Terry Simpson talks about bacterial contamination in clothing
It's been about twenty-five years since I was a surgical intern, leaving medical school and training in surgery. And I remember very well the lessons that I learned in my internship and residency from my program director Dr. Ryan. He left a strong impression in how to cut precisely and carefully handle tissues, but also one's appearance. Dr. Ryan felt that all surgeons when they left the operating room should be in a dress shirt and a tie. And in many things Dr. Ryan was right. But recently the New York legislature has started thinking that "maybe we should outlaw ties for doctors?" Why is that? Because when we start examining the ties that doctors wear, they're not often sent off to the dry cleaner and they contain a lot of bacteria. So this bacteria can spread from one patient to another. Even bacteria like the MRSA, the staphylococcus that everybody is worried about, the killer bacteria, can be found on these ties. So you will see in the new Doctor's Orders as we go along that I won't be wearing a shirt and a tie anymore. I'll be wearing a scrub top. Scrub tops can be washed daily, washed in hospital Laundromats and not be something that will contaminate patients as we walk by them. So my mentor Dr. Ryan was right about a lot of things. It's taken me twenty-five years. I've finally found something he was wrong about. I'm Doctor Terry Simpson and that's your doctor's orders.
