Nonsterile gloves are no different than sterile gloves when it comes to surgical site infection rates in outpatient surgical procedures, according to a study in JAMA Dermatology.
Researchers performed a systemic review and analysis of randomized clinical trials and comparative studies with information on sterile versus nonsterile gloves in outpatient surgical procedures. They found 13 studies covering 11,071 patients who underwent outpatient procedures with sterile or nonsterile gloves and had a follow-up regarding an SSI.
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Of those 11,071 patients, 228 had a postoperative SSI — 107 of them were in the nonsterile glove group, and 121 were in the sterile glove group.
"No difference was found in the rate of postoperative SSI between outpatient surgical procedures performed with sterile vs. nonsterile gloves," the authors concluded. "Given the cost difference between these gloves and the multitude of outpatient surgical procedures performed worldwide, these findings could have a significant effect on and implications for current practice standards."
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