Surgical gloves. How do you change yours?

Abstract

Surgical gloves are frequently changed intraoperatively, and different techniques exist. We surveyed surgeons and scrub staff in our hospital and prospectively compared contamination between two glove changing techniques. We questioned 25 surgeons and 25 scrub staff regarding their intra-operative glove changing technique. Twenty scrub staff performed a standard 'surgical scrub', following which aliquots of fluorescent powder were applied symmetrically to each forearm prior to donning gown and gloves. Subjects were randomised to group 1-open technique (OT) followed by closed technique (CT), or group 2-CT followed by OT. Following unassisted glove change, glove and hand contamination was assessed.