A new Cleveland-based study suggests that hospital workers tend to spread germs when they remove their gloves and gowns, putting themselves and their colleagues at a risk of infection.
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Now, the study only involved four health care workers at Ohio hospitals, who simulated glove and gown removal, repeatedly.
The group was retested twice, after one month and again three months later, to see if there were any improvements, and the researchers discovered a significant drop in the contamination rate from 60 percent to 19 percent. According to the Los Angeles Times, the workers got the lotion on clothes and skin 38 percent of the time during gown removal and 53 percent of the time when they remove their gloves.
The results were somewhat shocking – the researchers found that skin or clothing contamination occurred 46 percent of the time, and was most likely to happen as participants were removing their gloves.
There were more than 400 participants comprised of nurses, doctors, radiology technicians, phlebotomists, dietitians and physical therapists. Researchers used black light to look for contamination of the fluorescent lotion on the forearms, hands, face, neck, hair and clothing. Wearing the gloves before the gown and touching the exterior of a dirty glove when taking it off was another key mistake. However, even when they followed the guidelines accurately, they still contaminated themselves 30% of the time. Workers had to watch a 10-minute video, then practice their outlined technique for almost 20 minutes.
After the study, staff were instructed on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s recommendations for personal protective equipment.
Meanwhile, a separate group of medical personnel participated in a lecture and training on the proper removal of contaminated personal protective equipment.
“Because environmental bioburden is a concern for the cross-transmission of hospital-acquired pathogens, the microbial burden of health care worker hands and apparel represents another element in this equation”. Altogether, this augmented contamination of the animate and inanimate environment that increased the risk of infections acquired from hospitals, researchers informed in the commentary.
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Writing in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine on Monday, the researchers said that most of the transfer of the lotion took place as gloves were being removed.
