Anaesthetists should wear gloves--touch sensitivity is improved with a new type of thin glove

Sterile gloves should be worn for all invasive procedures. However, loss of touch sensitivity when wearing gloves leads to poor compliance among anaesthetists in the UK. Our aim was to investigate whether new surgical glove types, such as extra-thin or latex-free gloves, offer any advantage in touch sensitivity.

The skin-pressure sensibility threshold of the gloved pulp of the dominant index finger was established in 24 anaesthetists using nine self-made modified von Frey hairs. The range of forces generated by nylon monofilaments was evenly distributed between 0.5 and 17 mN. The gloves tested were latex Biogel standard, latex-free Biogel Neotech, and extra-thin latex Ansell microthin surgical gloves. The different glove types were assessed in a counterbalancing algorhithm, the individual was blinded, and the filaments were applied in random order.

The median threshold force to touch was significantly lower for the extra-thin surgical gloves in comparison to the standard latex (P = 0.014) and latex-free gloves (P = 0.001). There was no significant difference between the standard latex and latex-free gloves (P = 0.166).

We have demonstrated that wearing extra-thin surgical gloves offers increased touch sensitivity. This may improve dexterity when carrying out delicate invasive procedures. Latex-free surgical gloves performed similar to standard latex gloves. Our findings should encourage more widespread glove use among anaesthetists.