Target Audience

Southern Medical Journal (SMJ) is an interdisciplinary, multi-specialty Journal, and articles span the spectrum of medical topics, providing timely, up-to-date information for primary care physicians and specialists alike. The SMJ enables physicians to provide the best possible care to patients in this age of rapidly changing modern medicine.  Therefore, the readers of the SMJ are an appropriate target for this article.

Goals and Objectives

There is a knowledge gap regarding the role of contaminated white coats in increasing the risk of healthcare-associated infections that warrant further research to generate the evidence necessary for guiding the current attire policies of healthcare workers.

White coats have been suggested to serve as fomites carrying and transmitting pathogenic organisms and potentially increasing the risk of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs). 

The authors aimed to examine the current evidence regarding white coat contamination and its role in horizontal transmission and HAIs risk; the authors also examined handling practices and policies associated with white coat contamination in the reviewed literature. At the conclusion of the activity, learners should be better prepared to:

• Describe how use of white coats by medical staff (and other roles) may contribute to hospital associated infections;
• Discuss controversy regarding the potential for white coat use by medical staff (and other roles) may contribute to hospital acquired infections;
• Develop policies regarding white coat use that may reduce the risk hospital-acquired infections;
• Implement and monitor the impact of policies that are developed regarding white coat use.

Course Information

CME Release Date: June 2, 2022
Valid for credit through:  June 1, 2025
Course type: Journal CME/CE
Estimated time of completion: 1 hour

Credits Available

Southern Medical Association is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) to provide continuing medical education for physicians.

Southern Medical Association designates this Journal CME/CE activity for a maximum of 1 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

AAPA: AAPA accepts certificates of participation for educational activities certified for AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™ from organizations accredited by ACCME or a recognized state medical society. 

AANPCP: The American Academy of Nurse Practitioners Certification Program (AANPCP) accepts AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™ from organizations accredited by the ACCME.

Healthcare Professionals
For information on applicability and acceptance of continuing education credit for this activity, please consult your professional licensing board.  All healthcare professionals who are not MDs or DOs will receive a certificate of participation.

Instructions for Participation and Credit

This activity is designed to be completed within the time designated; learners should claim only those credits that reflect the time actually spent in the activity. To successfully earn credit, participants must complete the activity online during the valid credit period noted, following these steps:

• Read the goals and objectives, accreditation information, and author disclosures.
• Login in below to study the educational content and references.
• Complete the attestation, post-test (if applicable), and evaluation.

Upon successful completion of these components, your certificate will be processed and emailed from customerservice@sma.org within approximately 1 hour. Credits will be archived for 6 years; at any point within this time period you may login to your account to print a duplicate copy of your certificate.

Disclosure of Relevant Financial Relationships

Southern Medical Association (SMA) requires instructors, planners, managers, and all other individuals who are in a position to control the content of this activity to disclose conflicts of interest (COI) with ineligible entities within the last 24 months of the development of this activity. All identified COIs are thoroughly vetted and mitigated prior to the release of the activity. SMA is committed to providing its learners with high quality activities and related materials that promote improvements or quality in healthcare and not a specific proprietary business interest of a commercial interest.

The following individuals, unless otherwise noted, have no relevant financial relationships to disclose.

Manuscript Author(s):
Ruba Sajdeya, MD
Akemi T. Wijayabahu, MS
Nichole E. Stetten, PhD, MPH
Omar Sajdeya, MD
Osama Dasa, MD, MPH

Southern Medical Association/Southern Medical Journal Editorial Staff:
Steven T. Baldwin, MD, SMJ Editor-in-Chief
Jennifer S. Price, MA, Managing Editor
Anita McCabe, Copyeditor