To clarify the state of methicillin-resistant coagulase-negative staphylococci (MRCNS) contamination in the hospital environment, we compared MRCNS isolated from the fingers of 40 nursing students who had not yet experienced clinical practice and 40 who had just completed clinical practice in the hospital. Fourteen MRCNS strains were detected in 13 students (32.5%) after clinical practice; Staphylococcus epidermidis in 9 students, Staphylococcus haemolyticus in 3, and Staphylococcus saprophyticus in 2. Drug sensitivity tests were performed, and the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of penicillin-G (PCG) was more than 2 microg/ml in all strains, and that of ampicillin (ABPC) was more than 16 microg/ml in many strains. Only a few strains showed high MIC values for the other drugs tested. However, some Staphylococcus haemolyticus strains showed high MIC values for cefazolin (CEZ), arbekacin (ABK), gentamicin (GM), ofloxacin (OFLX), or imipenem (IPM). In all strains, the mecA gene was detected by polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and penicillin binding protein 2' (PBP2') was detected by the latex agglutination method. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus epidermidis (MRSE) isolated from the fingers of nursing students was compared with that isolated from blood culture specimens by arbitrarily primed (AP)-PCR analysis. The patterns obtained were different, a finding which excluded the presence of cross-infection. The present results show that basic preventive measures for cross-infection should be considered in the future, using such genetic analysis methods, so that MRCNS may not cause hospital infection.