A recent hand-sample study found healthcare workers had higher contamination rates when wearing gloves, raising a question about gloves' efficacy, according to Medscape.
Researchers analyzed World Health Organization hand-hygiene moments 2 and 3 in the study. The second moment concerns the time before a provider performs a clean or aseptic procedure while the third moment entails after the providers remove gloves following a body fluid exposure.
Here are six points:
1. Investigators detected at least one healthcare-associated pathogen in 28 percent of the healthcare workers' hand samples.
2. When comparing moments 2 and 3, researchers noted equal hand contamination levels before and after a procedure.
3. There was a 20 percent hand contamination rate among the samples when providers wore gloves, as opposed to a 15 percent level when providers did not wear gloves.
4. Researchers reported a 40 percent contamination rate for gloved hands in the five observations before performing an aseptic procedure.
5. The findings indicate glove use did not prevent hand contamination. Researchers note the medical community is faced with a conundrum as manufacturers currently advise against glove reprocessing, despite researchers saying it could be a valid solution to preventing hand contamination.
6. In a separate study, researchers analyzed whether disinfecting gloves proved effective in lowering contamination rates. They found disinfection efficacy was lower for ungloved hands, as opposed to gloved hands, leading the researchers to note, "Infection of gloves may be acceptable as a strategy to improve hand hygiene, but also show that glove material can compromise efficacy. Furthermore, medicolegal questions have to be answered before glove disinfection is included as a novel 'WHO moment' of hand hygiene," Medscape reports.
