This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
Many physicians consider universal gloving inconvenient, unnecessary
Despite the belief that glove use can prevent the spread of infectious diseases in hospital settings, recent data suggest some health care workers find universal donning of gloves to be inconvenient and unnecessary.
“When asked about the benefits of [universal gloving (UG)], almost 90% of all [health care workers (HCWs)], including physicians, believed that gloves prevent the spread of infection,” the researchers wrote. “Despite the perceived infection prevention benefits, widespread glove availability and self-reported high rates of hand hygiene compliance, HCWs perceived [universal gloving] as an inconvenience.”
Researchers distributed voluntary surveys on hand hygiene and glove use to HCWs and patients at a 900-bed tertiary care academic hospital. The surveys were anonymous, designed using the Likert-scale and tailored for either HCW or patient recipients. Responses were compared between HCWs and patients, and separately between nurses, physicians and patients.
The researchers said 137 patients completed surveys, as did 392 HCWs, including 75 physicians, 219 nurses and nurse practitioners, and 98 nurse assistants and students.
Eighty-four percent of HCWs responded that adopting UG reduces the risk for cross transmission, yet 69% of physicians believed the practice is unnecessary and 76% did not support mandatory gloving. Among nurses, 61% felt gloves were either “probably” or “definitely” necessary for every patient encounter, and 65% felt similarly about mandatory gloving.
The barrier to UG most commonly cited by HCWs was inconvenience (41%). Gloves were reported to be highly available by HCWs, and 99% reported hand hygiene compliance when donning and doxing; however, this number was reduced when patients reported their observations (88%).
“Programs instituting UG for patient care must target the perception of inconvenience and potential noncompliance by physicians,” the researchers wrote. “Infection prevention programs advocating the use of UG, particularly during outbreak conditions or during heightened respiratory virus activity, should aggressively educate providers on the potential benefits of UG to maximize compliance and acceptability.” – by Dave Muoio
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.