5 4 S U P P L E M E N T T O O U T P A T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E O C T O B E R 2 0 1 7
College of Surgeons (osmag.net/kqd3nk), the Association of periOperative
Registered Nurses (osmag.net/nw6mgx) and the Association of Surgical
Technologists (osmag.net/p9bnbw) increasingly recommend double-gloving in
virtually all cases that involve potential exposure to blood, bodily fluids and other
potentially infectious materials.
You could paper your facility's walls with the volume of literature that recom-
mends double-gloving for staff and surgeons (see "Studies Offer Support for
Layered Protection"). If it can be shown that double-gloving clearly provides
greater protections, while having little or no negative impact on fine motor
skills or dexterity, why is it such a difficult sell?
Undoubtedly, much of the resistance has to do with surgeons' inherent resist-
ance to change. It's based on habits. Those who start double-gloving tend to
keep doing it, and those who don't are reluctant to start. In other words, it may
be doubly hard to convince older practitioners that they should be double-glov-
ing.
If your staff and surgeons don't want to protect themselves (and their patients)
by wearing an added layer of protection, does it make sense to insist? "The surgi-
cal team must follow our policy on gloving," says Robin Webb, RN, CNOR, the
supervisor of surgical services at Bayshore Medical Center in Pasadena, Texas.
The policy, she says, requires sterile team members to wear 2 pairs of surgical
gloves during invasive procedures with the potential for glove perforation or
exposure to blood, bodily fluids, or other infectious materials.
Those who refuse are made to undergo "counseling" to ensure compliance.
That goes for physicians, too, says Ms. Webb, who are "required to follow all
hospital policies if they have privileges at our facility."
Compliance isn't a problem, she says, but that doesn't mean the policy was an
overnight success. "As with most changes, it was difficult in the beginning,"
explains Ms. Webb. "It takes time to get used to the feel of wearing two pairs of
gloves and most everyone was resistant at first."
A similar policy requiring double-gloving is in effect at Rusk County Memorial
