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Doctors' Neckties Transmit Germs
bzipitidoo writes "Real geeks don't wear neckties, and maybe the rest of the world wishes they didn't have to. Ties had a minor comeback with the recent bad job market, but hopefully that's behind us. Apart from the obvious that neckties are uncomfortable, useless, in-the-way, and therefore a waste of time and money, too-tight ties constrict blood vessels and
raise eye fluid pressure which increases the risk of blindness. Now there's a new study showing that
doctors' neckties transmit germs. One suggested remedy from the article is tie condoms."
The artical aside, I love neck ties, I have 17, ranging from Star Trek to the molecular structure of Scotch to a maroon one with a flower embroidered to a portrait of Einstein. Unlike starched shirts and ironed pants, a tie is a chance for self expression in the otherwise bland world of corprate attire. They're especillay cool if they're stolen, as you're then you're flaunting your rebellion through conformity.
Yet another signature that refers to itself. The irony and humor is dead.
Seriously, it's one of the few formal pieces of fashion for men that is widely acceptable. Different shades of suit are nice, but a tie can actually have some character. Even how you make the knot can be a little flavored (knot vs bow-like). Plus, it's a lot cheaper than a whole new outfit. And now that I think about it, I never wash, iron, or fold my ties either (like the doctors in the article, I'm sure). Simplest part of my formal wardrobe.
I never understood why people associate ties only with the stress of their work (the tying/binding part), their PHB (the requirement to wear a tie), or the rigors of formality (again, required). The tie is one of the few personalized, professional pieces of formal attire a man is allowed. Embrace it!
Ties? Come on.
If you're going to needlessly worry about something, worry about the doctor's stethoscope. I'm a medical student, and I've never heard of people cleaning their stethoscopes unless the patient was on contact isolation. I have yet to sterilize mine. Why? It's just not terribly conducive to crap growing on it, and you never put it on open wounds or the like. Skin is a pretty damn good barrier to pathogens.
Also, if you want to worry about more stuff, worry about doctors washing their hands. It's unprofessional and a health risk not to, but it doesn't happen as much as it should with certain people. (I've shadowed GPs who washed their hands less than once per patient.) Many physicians trust Purell hand sanitizer, but some don't. There's a reason no surgeon would scrub in with Purell - they instead use iodine-based scrubbers, with plenty of mechanical scrubbing. Then two layers of gloves on top.
There are worse things than ties...
They do. I took a microbio class in college and one assignment was to take a swab of some object in everyday use and see what grows on a petri dish. Well, I chose the pen at the sign-in clipboard to the infermery. When we were looking at the slides we prepared from our cultures, my prof asked me what I had sampled. When I told her she became very upset, especially when she looked at my slide and saw many gram-negative cocci, of which she was afraid that I had grown meningitis. My culture was promptly destroyed.
It's interesting that the neckties were the cause for concern, but not the shirts or the belts. I'm assuming that's because the neckties are not washed as regularly as another other item of clothing. Why not just throw the necktie into the washing machine along with the rest of the clothes?
In a discussion I had recently with a medical researcher, he claimed that there is solid research that pens are the number one vehicle for spreading germs around in hospitals.
I say wear a tie. It makes a nice personal statement and shows your coworkers some respect. No one likes to see ratty t-shirts and pit-stained polos.
While an earlier post mentions that ties are perhaps the least washed article of clothing, the unanswered, and maybe unasked, question is: What about the rest of the suit or whatever else might be worn? Did they swab shirts and jackets to see what those held as well?
If it's just ties with high levels of pathogens, then ditching them makes medical sense. If it's any cloth the physician wears, then just getting rid of ties won't really have any effect. The 'tie condom' sounds silly, but really something like that goes on now with what surgeons wear for each procedure. Would it be that farfetched to have a physician change what would be pretty much an apron between examinations if it meant healthier patients?
I don't subscribe to RMS's GNUtopian vision.
I don't think you're wrong, but as always there is the other side to that argument.
Assume you're one of those four who the PHB has to choose from in an office where the other 3 have a typical crewcut, suit and tie. You, on the other hand are wearing a smart, designer, open collar shirt with some nice plain trousers, spiked hair and a designer jacket. Who looks better there? The corporate drones or the person who really considers his appearance?
Some doctors, at least, are already aware of this pitfall and have taken steps against it. My father, for instance, always wears a tie tack in order to keep his tie from dangling down onto (or into) his patients. I had always sort of assumed that this was a basic part of medical hygiene. Apparently not. Given the extremely simple solution (assuming that wearing a tie tack is effective) this could easily become something of a non-issue.