Gloves and Gowns May Not Protect Against MRSA or VRE

(Ivanhoe Newswire) – A new study at the University of Maryland shows that the use of gloves and gowns by health care professionals in intensive care units do not always prevent patients from acquiring MRSA and VRE bacteria.
Dr. Anthony Harris of the University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, along with a team of researchers tested if gloves and gowns helped to protect patients from coming in contact with the deadly bacteria.
From January 2012 to October 2012, Dr. Harris and colleagues organized a trial in 20 ICUs in the U.S. that enforced health care workers to wear gloves and gowns during patient contact. Researchers found that there was a decrease in both the intervention and control ICUs in the composite rate of MRSA or VRE acquisition over the study periods, but the difference in change was not statistically significant.
For more information, go to: http://media.jamanetwork.com/news-item/use-gloves-gowns-patient-contact-icus-reduce-overall-rate-acquiring-mrsa-vre/
SOURCE: JAMA, October 2013