Higher rate of undetected intraoperative damage of latex-free surgical gloves worn by scrub nurses.

Abstract

Background: Surgical gloves are a medical product and a cornerstone of prevention from surgical site infections and staff injury. This study aimed to investigate the integrity of surgical gloves worn by scrub nurses during selected procedures in both general and trauma surgery. The frequency of defects such as perforations or tears was identified. Furthermore, differences in durability between latex and latex-free gloves were analyzed.

Methods: In a 3-month period, a total of 139 surgical glove pairs, both latex and latex-free, used during general or trauma surgery in an academic teaching hospital were collected immediately after procedures. The gloves were subjected to watertightness testing following European norm ISO EN 455:2022 standards. Only gloves visually presumed to be intact were tested for any concealed perforations.

Results: The number of perforated glove pairs was similar in both departments (general surgery 25% (n = 14 of 57) vs. trauma surgery 28% (n = 23 of 82), p = 0.79). However, differences in perforation rates by glove models (latex vs. latex-free) were noticed. The likelihood of perforation was increased by a factor of 4.24 with the use of latex-free gloves (χ^2 = 8.48, p = 0.004).

Conclusions: Perforation of surgical gloves worn by scrub nurses is a common event during various surgical procedures in general and trauma surgery. In several cases, members of the surgical team do not notice a perforation of a glove. The risk of undetected damage to a surgical glove is significantly higher when latex-free gloves are used. Further research is needed to investigate if the use of a second layer of gloves could reduce this perioperative risk for surgical staff and patients.