ORIGINAL PAPER
Glove failure in elective thyroid surgery: A prospective randomized study
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Medical University of Lodz, Łódź, Poland (Department of Emergency Medicine and Disaster Medicine), |
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Medical University of Lodz, Łódź, Poland (Department of Endocrinological, General and Oncological Surgery) |
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Medical University of Lodz, Łódź, Poland (Department of Health Care Policy) |
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Institute of Cardiology, Warszawa, Poland (Department of Cardiosurgery and Transplantology) |
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Medical University of Lodz, Łódź, Poland (Faculty of Health Sciences) |
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Medical University of Lodz, Łódź, Poland (Department of Medical Standards, Procedures and Quality) |
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Dariusz Timler
Medical University of Lodz, Department of Emergency Medicine and Disaster Medicine, Pabianicka 62, 93-513 Łódź, Poland
Int J Occup Med Environ Health 2015;28(3):499–505
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ABSTRACT
Objectives: To analyze perforation rate in sterile gloves used by surgeons in the operating theatre of the Department
of Endocrinological and General Surgery of Medical University of Lodz. Material and Methods: Randomized and controlled trial. This study analyses the incidents of tears in sterile surgical gloves used by surgeons during operations on 3 types of thyroid diseases according to the 10th revision of International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related
Health Problems (ICD-10) codes. Nine hundred seventy-two pairs (sets) of gloves were collected from 321 surgical procedures. All gloves were tested immediately following surgery using the water leak test (EN455-1) to detect leakage. Results: Glove perforation was detected in 89 of 972 glove sets (9.2%). Statistically relevant more often glove tears occurred in operator than the 1st assistant (p < 0.001). The sites of perforation were localized mostly on the middle
finger of the non-dominant hand (22.5%), and the non-dominant ring finger (17.9%). Conclusions: This study has proved that the role performed by the surgeon during the procedure (operator, 1st assistant) has significant influence on the risk of glove perforations. Nearly 90% of glove perforations are unnoticed during surgery.