Study: Cloth skull caps more effective than bouffant disposable caps in preventing airborne contamination

Editor's Note

Surgeon’s cloth skull caps that expose small amounts of the ears and hair are not inferior to bouffant disposable hats that cover those features, finds this study presented October 25 at the American College of Surgeons Clinical Congress 2017 in San Diego and published online October 26 in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons ( http://www.journalacs.org/article/S1072-7515(17)31918-X/abstract ) .

For the study, researchers tested disposable bouffant hats, disposable surgeon’s skull caps, and freshly home-laundered, reusable cloth skull caps.

The bouffant hats and disposable skull caps had similar airborne particle counts, but the cloth skullcaps, which do not have a porous crown like disposable caps, outperformed bouffant hats, showing lower particle counts and significantly lower microbial shedding at the sterile field.

Results of fabric analysis also showed that bouffant hats had greater permeability than either of the other caps.

The findings have the potential to impact OR attire policies of hospitals and healthcare regulatory bodies, the researchers say.

Cloth Skull Caps Shown to be More Effective than Bouffant-Style Disposable Caps at Preventing Airborne Contamination in the Operating Room

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