Clinical concerns
Top 5 reasons you should be double-gloving during surgery
Wearing two surgical gloves significantly reduces infection risk to operating room personnel.1 The second glove helps protect against bloodborne pathogens when the outer glove is punctured.2
Double-gloving helps provide a high level of protection. The interior glove reduces exposure to patient blood by as much as 87 percent when the outer glove is punctured.3
Double-gloving is recommended for invasive surgeries by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention4, American Operating Nurse Associationa5, British Journal of Surgery6, European Journal of Surgery7 and World Health Organization.8
Colored undergloves can help improve occupational safety. Research shows that most punctures are tiny and identified only after surgery, not at the time of the incident.
Colored undergloves increased awareness of perforations to synthetic outer gloves from 21% to 86%1 and reduced time to awareness from 67 seconds to 42 seconds.9
Double gloving brochure
Footnotes and references
2O A Arowolo et al. Safety of the surgeon: Double-Gloving during surgical procedures. SAJHIVMED December 2014, Vol. 15, No. 4.
3Berguer R, Heller PJ. Preventing sharps injuries in the operating room. Journal of the American College of Surgeons. 2004;199(3):462-467.
4 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Guideline for prevention of surgical site infection, 1999. Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology, April 1999, 20(4):247-278. http://www.cdc.gov/hicpac/pdf/ssiguidelines.pdf. Accessed August 2016.
5 AORN Guideline for Sterile Technique from 2015 Guidelines for Perioperative Practice.
6 Use of coloured undergloves to detect gloves puncture. – British Journal of Surgery 1994
7Efficacy of Double Gloving with a Colored Inner Pair for Immediate Detection of Operative Glove Perforation - European Journal of Surgery
8 Glove Use Information Leaflet. World Health Organization. August 2009. Available at: http://www.who.int/gpsc/5may/Glove_Use_Information_Leaflet.pdf.. Accessed August 2016.
9 Thomas-Copeland, Do Surgical Personnel Really Need to Double-Glove? AORN Journal, FEBRUARY 2009, VOL 89, NO 2; page 327.