CONTAMINATION OF WHITE COATS BY HEALTH PROFESSIONALS IN PROVIDING HEALTH CARE

Introduction: Health care-related infections are considered a public health problem, as they compromise the safety and quality of care provided to users of this service. The objective is to describe the occurrence of contamination of textile clothing by health professionals in the provision of health care. Outline: Integrative literature review conducted in October 2018 in SciELO and the VHL. Controlled health descriptors were used: ‘cross infection’ AND ‘health personnel’ AND ‘clothing’. After the selection steps, 11 articles remained. Results: It is observed that four (36.36%) articles have as objectives: to determine the biological characteristics of microorganisms present in the white coats, what type, level, frequency and places of contamination of the white coats; four (36.36%) are aimed at identifying transmission potentials and reducing contamination and infection control strategies through the use of gloves and white coats; one (9.09%) aims to evaluate domestic washing procedures and one (9.09%) aims to examine the maintenance and use of lead clothing by assessing microbiological contamination in surgical procedures. Implications: There is a challenge to be faced which is related to educational actions and continuing education.