Aseptic protocol breaches are common among veterinary students scrubbing, gowning, and gloving into surgery

To assess the frequency of aseptic protocol breaches (APBs) among veterinary students scrubbing, gowning, and gloving into surgery and identify factors that may be associated with APBs.

This was an observational cross-sectional study. Students on clinical rotations at an academic small animal teaching hospital from May to July 2023 in the services of Orthopedic, Soft Tissue, Oncologic, and Neurologic Surgery were observed while scrubbing, gowning, and gloving into surgery, and APBs and donning times were recorded. Stage of rotation (early vs late), service type, duration of donning surgical attire, and previous surgical experience were also recorded. The χ2 and points biserial tests were used to assess for associations between APBs and the aforementioned factors.

At least 1 APB was noted in 45 (46.3%) of the 96 procedures observed. The most common mistakes noted were contact of the sterile towel onto nonsterile surfaces (17.7%), contact of the gown with nonsterile surfaces (17.7%), touching sterile objects with bare hands (12.5%), and improper scrubbing technique (17.4%). There was no association between APBs and service type, previous scrub experience, or stage of rotation. Those who made an APB had longer gowning and gloving times, 4.60 (1.40) minutes, than those who did not make an APB, 3.71 (0.91) minutes.

These findings demonstrate that APBs are common among veterinary students and highlight reasons for contamination during scrubbing, gloving, and gowning.

The data may be used to help improve asepsis protocols.