Understanding the Issues of Double Gloving
Researchers have found significant differences in the glove defect rate depending
on the wearer’s role in the surgical procedure. Laine’s study found that assistants
had perforation rates of 7.7% and surgeons had perforation rates of 23.6% out of
284 surgeries.
8 Other studies describe scrub nurses as being at the highest
risk for glove failure, citing a glove perforation rate as high as 40%.
10
The disturbing thing about all of these statistics is that many of these study participants
did not notice the glove defect until the end of the surgical procedure when the
gloves were removed, and blood was seen on the hands. Berguer says that most, if
not all, surgeons have encountered blood on their hands or fingers at the conclusion
of a procedure without awareness of suffering an injury or the occurrence of a breach
of the glove barrier by any other method.
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