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The misuse and overuse of non-sterile gloves: application of an audit tool to define the problem

The misuse and overuse of non-sterile gloves: application of an audit tool to define the problem
The misuse and overuse of non-sterile gloves: application of an audit tool to define the problem
Background: The use of non-sterile gloves (NSG) has become routine in the delivery of health care, often for procedures for which they are not required; their use may increase the risk of cross contamination and is generally not integrated into hand hygiene audit. This paper describes a small-scale application and validation of an observational audit tool devised to identify inappropriate use of NSG and potential for cross contamination.

Methods: Two observers simultaneously observed the use of NSG during episodes of care in an acute hospital setting. The inter-rater reliability (IRR) of the audit tool was measured corrected for chance agreement using Kappa.

Results: A total of 22 episodes of care using NSG were observed. In 68.6% (24/35) of procedures there was no contact with blood/body fluid; in 54.3% (19/35) NSG-use was inappropriate. The IRR was 100% for eight of 12 components of the tool. For hand hygiene before and after NSG removal it was 82% (Kappa = 0.72) and 95% (Kappa = 0.87).

Conclusions: In this small-scale application of a glove-use audit tool we demonstrated over-use and misuse of NSG and potential for cross transmission on gloved hands. The audit tool provides an effective mechanism for integrating glove use into the audit of hand hygiene behaviour.
1757-1782
24-31
Wilson, J.
3f1c94b6-ce87-485d-ab0d-5cde14206d72
Prieto, J.
47dd42cd-35d5-4ece-8fc6-fdb8fe1f01cc
Singleton, J.
4c561895-e76a-4597-8949-39b7a4510eee
O'Connor, V.
a03cc61a-29be-4c4d-96ff-ab03f2c1ae16
Lynam, S.
c223b638-7e26-48c7-93eb-eb24da1871ea
Loveday, H.
7ad981e9-bae4-484a-8c16-88c85451b56f
Wilson, J.
3f1c94b6-ce87-485d-ab0d-5cde14206d72
Prieto, J.
47dd42cd-35d5-4ece-8fc6-fdb8fe1f01cc
Singleton, J.
4c561895-e76a-4597-8949-39b7a4510eee
O'Connor, V.
a03cc61a-29be-4c4d-96ff-ab03f2c1ae16
Lynam, S.
c223b638-7e26-48c7-93eb-eb24da1871ea
Loveday, H.
7ad981e9-bae4-484a-8c16-88c85451b56f

Wilson, J., Prieto, J., Singleton, J., O'Connor, V., Lynam, S. and Loveday, H. (2015) The misuse and overuse of non-sterile gloves: application of an audit tool to define the problem. Journal of Infection Prevention, 16 (1), 24-31. (doi:10.1177/1757177414558673).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Background: The use of non-sterile gloves (NSG) has become routine in the delivery of health care, often for procedures for which they are not required; their use may increase the risk of cross contamination and is generally not integrated into hand hygiene audit. This paper describes a small-scale application and validation of an observational audit tool devised to identify inappropriate use of NSG and potential for cross contamination.

Methods: Two observers simultaneously observed the use of NSG during episodes of care in an acute hospital setting. The inter-rater reliability (IRR) of the audit tool was measured corrected for chance agreement using Kappa.

Results: A total of 22 episodes of care using NSG were observed. In 68.6% (24/35) of procedures there was no contact with blood/body fluid; in 54.3% (19/35) NSG-use was inappropriate. The IRR was 100% for eight of 12 components of the tool. For hand hygiene before and after NSG removal it was 82% (Kappa = 0.72) and 95% (Kappa = 0.87).

Conclusions: In this small-scale application of a glove-use audit tool we demonstrated over-use and misuse of NSG and potential for cross transmission on gloved hands. The audit tool provides an effective mechanism for integrating glove use into the audit of hand hygiene behaviour.

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More information

Accepted/In Press date: 5 October 2014
Published date: January 2015
Organisations: Faculty of Health Sciences

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 399571
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/399571
ISSN: 1757-1782
PURE UUID: 7b64aed9-0bd0-4880-9b54-e42044b5074d
ORCID for J. Prieto: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-5524-6775

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Date deposited: 19 Aug 2016 13:05
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 03:17

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Contributors

Author: J. Wilson
Author: J. Prieto ORCID iD
Author: J. Singleton
Author: V. O'Connor
Author: S. Lynam
Author: H. Loveday

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