Abstract:

A surgical glove is an important barrier for preventing surgical site infection (SSI) caused by transmission of body fluid and microorganisms from surgical team. Based on previous studies on glove perforations related to compromised asepsis, AORN recommends double gloving and frequent glove changes during invasive procedures. The purpose of this study was to examine the surgical glove perforation incidences and correlated factors between surgical characteristics and glove perforation. Gloves were collected from 277 surgical cases, performed in one tertiary hospital, located in Seoul, Korea. During a two-month period, two types of gloves were used for data collection. Gloves changed throughout procedures due to identified defect were excluded and at the end of the case, only outer layer of gloves were examined. Data was analyzed by SPSS/Win Ver. 18.0 program.Glove perforation rate in dental (53.6%) and orthopedics (34.8%) services was significantly higher than the others (p=.002). The duration of wearing surgical gloves was statistically significant. The 181 to 240 minute group was significantly higher than the group under 90 minutes, 91-180 minutes and over 240 minutes (p=.049). Other surgical characteristics related to the perforation rate were staff role (p=.001), experience (p=.021), and surgery type (p=.001). Regardless of improvement of surgical gloves and recommended practice, the unrecognized glove perforation rate was still high (28%). Based on this experimental research, it is suggested that surgical team should not only wear double gloves but also periodically exchange gloves especially between three and four hour periods with consideration of other surgical characteristics.