Guidelines in Practice: Surgical Attire

Surgical attire provides a barrier to microorganisms shed from health care workers' skin and hair to help protect patients and promote a clean environment. The AORN "Guideline for surgical attire" includes recommendations for selecting, wearing, and cleaning surgical attire that are based on the highest-quality evidence available. Recommendations are rated as Regulatory Requirement, Recommendation, Conditional Recommendation, or No Recommendation according to the level of evidence, an assessment of the benefits versus harms of implementing specific interventions, and consideration of resources required to implement the interventions. This article discusses guideline recommendations related to laundering surgical attire, wearing long-sleeved attire, and wearing head coverings. A scenario provides an example in which an interdisciplinary facility team uses a gap analysis and a risk assessment to prioritize process changes for implementing the guideline. Perioperative personnel should review the entire guideline for additional information and for guidance when creating and updating policies and procedures.