Oct 14, 2015 07:07 AM EDT By Rashmi Kalia, UniversityHerald Reporter

A new study shows that doctors contaminate their skin and clothing, while removing their protective gear such as gloves and gowns, Reuters reports. 

This bacterium is causing serious sanitary concerns in major hospitals across the U.S. The contaminated health care workers can spread the germs to other susceptible patients.

"It was surprising for the participants in the study to see that they frequently contaminated themselves during (personal protective equipment) removal," said senior author Dr. Curtis J. Donskey of the Cleveland Veterans Affairs Medical Center.

"Most of the participants appeared to be unaware of the high risk for contamination and many reported receiving minimal or no training in putting on and taking off (personal protective equipment)," he told Reuters Health by email.

For the study, the researchers recruited doctors, nurses and other health care personnel at four Cleveland-area hospitals to participate in the simulations.

The participants put on protective gowns and gloves and rubbed fluorescent lotion between their hands for 15 seconds to simulate dirtied gloves. They then rubbed the gloves over the chest and abdomen area of the gown. Then the gloves were exchanged for clean ones.

Later, when the researchers checked the gear for lotion contamination of the hands, forearms, neck, face, hair or clothing, they found that skin or clothing contamination happened 46 percent of the time.

Researchers also noted that contamination happened 70 percent of the time when proper technique was not followed, compared to 30 percent of the time when it was followed.

"When dealing with pathogens that are potentially fatal, the goal has to be zero contamination," Donskey said. "In routine care settings, we would like personnel to be well trained and confident that they can minimize contamination, but would not insist on zero contamination."

The study highlights the importance of following proper procedures in a hospital setting.

Each staff member was later shown a 10-minute video and 20 minutes of demonstration and practice to go over proper gear disposal techniques. The contaminations decreased from 60 percent to 19 percent after the instructional settings.  

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