Gown and glove use for patient contact in medical and surgical intensive care units is not an effective method for controlling the spread of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus or vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus, according to an article published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Researchers performed the study in 20 U.S. hospitals between January and October 2012. In ICUs in the "intervention" condition, all healthcare workers were required to wear gloves and gowns for any patient contact in any room.
Of the more than 26,000 patients visited during the study, patient acquisitions of VRE and MRSA did not decrease and were not statistically different between ICUs with a glove-gown protocol and those without the protocol.
Additionally, in the intervention condition, researchers found a decrease in healthcare worker room entry and increased hand-hygiene compliance.
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