Gowns, gloves can be risky for medical staff

A new study has explained how an individual can get a life-threatening infection in a hospital. They were asked to exchange the gloves and apron for a clean set of protective gear.

In a report issued in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine, roughly 46 percent or 200 respondents showed contamination of skin or clothing through the fluorescent lotion, and contamination occurred mostly during the removal of gloves.

The study suggested that the odds that the healthcare professionals could take off their protective coverings without getting infected were only slightly better than the flip of a coin.

There were more than 400 participants comprised of nurses, doctors, radiology technicians, phlebotomists, dietitians and physical therapists.

The researchers of the study was led by Dr. Myreen Tomas of the Cleveland Veterans Affairs Medical Center, enlisted the volunteers from four hospitals in the Cleveland area.

Now, the study only involved four health care workers at Ohio hospitals, who simulated glove and gown removal, repeatedly. The lotion glowed under a black light, a stand-in for invisible pathogens.

Participants were given fluorescent lotion and asked to rub it on their gloved hands, then take the gloves off.

Before the training sessions, these individuals contaminated themselves 60% of the time, compared to roughly 19% after the sessions. During the process, the researchers used a fluorescent lotion to designate how “contaminated” each item of clothing might be. Wearing the gloves before the gown and touching the exterior of a dirty glove when taking it off was another key mistake. However, even when they followed the guidelines accurately, they still contaminated themselves 30% of the time.

As the study’s participants removed their protective equipment the way they normally would at work, the researchers swooped in with a black light to reveal how much of the contaminant was transferred to their bare skin. Workers had to watch a 10-minute video, then practice their outlined technique for almost 20 minutes. “Because training alone did not result in zero contamination, there is a need for other approaches such as improving (equipment) design or disinfection of (equipment) prior to removal”. “Collectively, this increased contamination of the animate and inanimate environment contributes to the risk of hospital-acquired infections”, researchers wrote in the commentary.