Surgical gloves--a comparative study of the incidence and site of punctures

Five surgical teams in two operating suites were studied for three months with random allocation to receive either A or B operating gloves. The gloves were identified as used by the surgeon, the assistant and the scrub nurse. At the end of each day the gloves were tested by standard air insufflation and immersion under water. Surgeons experienced significantly more punctures 174:884 (19.7%) [17%-23%] than the scrub nurses or assistants 161:1770 (9.4%) [8.6%-10.2%]. Surgeons were particularly prone to experience punctures of the tip of the index or little finger of the left hand whereas nurses were more likely to experience punctures of the index finger and thumb of the left hand. There was a wide variation between the five surgical teams varying between 5.7% [2%-11%] and 37.5% [24%-52%] wearing B and 11.4% and 28.4% wearing A. There were significantly more punctures when wearing A gloves (23.0%) [20%-26%] than when wearing B gloves (15.8%) [13%-19%] for surgeons but no significant difference for surgical assistants or scrub nurses. Contrary to our expectation there were no significant differences between the two types in the tearing of cuffs (1% in each).