Synthetic surgical gloves

Surgical gloves are used by healthcare workers to protect them against bloodborne pathogens and other potential infectants and to prevent wound contamination in patients. In response to the increasing prevalence of allergies to natural rubber latex (NRL) among patients and medical staff, the trend toward purchasing gloves made of synthetic materials is on the rise. However, latex continues to dominate the market, and some people still perceive synthetic gloves as providing less protection and being less comfortable than NRL gloves. For this Update Evaluation, we present our findings for three newly evaluated glove models from three manufacturers and summarize our findings for the seven previously evaluated models that are still on the market. (Our earlier Evaluation was published in the February-March 2000 Health Devices.) As in the previous Evaluation, our ratings are based on the gloves' barrier effectiveness--that is, their resistance to viral penetration and their durability--and comfort. We also compared these characteristics of the synthetic gloves to those of NRL gloves. We found that all the evaluated gloves offer adequate barrier protection but that their level of comfort varies considerably. We rate three models Preferred, five models Acceptable, and two models Not Recommended.