Study of Nature of Glove Puncture Injury and its Occurrence in Orthopaedic Surgery

Abstract

Background: In orthopedic practice glove punctures are very common entity. Integrity of gloves act as a barrier in protecting the operating team from various blood related infections. Breach in this integrity of gloves make the operating team susceptible to patient’s body fluid and hence increases the infection chances. In today’s world due to presence of conditions such as HIV, Hepatitis B and C, our study is pointing out the infection rate and factors that can lead an operating team vulnerable to such infections. Material & Methods: Gloves that were collected from respective orthopaedic procedures were subjected to the standardized water leak test. These gloves were evaluated for leakages and were compared to a control group of unused gloves from the same pack after each respective surgical procedure. Result: The perforation rate of gloves was found to be 12.6 (240/1856) with operative perforation rate of 45%. The gloves of the surgeon got perforated at a rate of 21.4% (120/560). The perforation rate of index finger and thumb were the found to be 57% and 22% respectively. The perforation rate of outer glove was 81.3% and the inner glove was 20.4%. Those surgeries lasting more than 100 minutes were related to a perforation rate of 67%. Conclusion: Double gloving techniques are preferred to delineate the chances of glove perforation related infections and also encouraged for prolonged procedures which will eventually lead to the decreased chances of exposure. Key words: Gloves; Puncture; Surgery