Highlights
- •Data used to support many practices in the operating room environment are supported by anecdotal data.
- •Certain regulatory agencies have suggested that nonscrubbed operating room personnel wear long sleeves while in the room.
- •Wearing long sleeves and gloves while prepping a mock patient led to decreased large-particle and microbial shedding compared with prepping with bare arms.
- •Wearing of long sleeves and gloves should be considered when applying the skin prep to patients before surgery.
Background
The use of long sleeves by nonscrubbed personnel in the operating room has been called
into question. We hypothesized that wearing long sleeves and gloves, compared with
having bare arms without gloves, while applying the skin preparation solution would
decrease particulate and microbial contamination.
Methods
A mock patient skin prep was performed in 3 different operating rooms. A long-sleeved
gown and gloves, or bare arms, were used to perform the procedure. Particle counters
were used to assess airborne particulate contamination, and active and passive microbial
assessment was achieved through air samplers and settle plate analysis. Data were
compared with Student's t-test or Mann-Whitney U, and P < .05 was considered to be significant.
Results
Operating room B demonstrated decreased 5.0- µm particle sizes with the use of sleeves,
while operating rooms A and C showed decreased total microbes only with the use of
sleeves. Despite there being no difference in the average number of total microbes
for all operating rooms assessed, the use of sleeves specifically appeared to decrease
the shed of Micrococcus.
Conclusion
The use of long sleeves and gloves while applying the skin preparation solution decreased
particulate and microbial shedding in several of the operating rooms tested. Although
long sleeves may not be necessary for all operating room personnel, they may decrease
airborne contamination while the skin prep is applied, which may lead to decreased
surgical site infections.
Key Words
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: November 30, 2017
Footnotes
This study was funded by the American College of Surgeons (ACS) and the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA).
Conflicts of interest: None to report.
Identification
Copyright
© 2018 Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
