Abstract:
The use of medical gloves in hospital settings has increased because workers
have more awareness of the need for barrier protection against blood borne pathogens.
The use of gloves has increased but resources are limited: therefore reprocessed
surgical gloves have become a common practice in hospital settings in Thailand.
This study was a quasi-experimental study to assess risks of reused medical
gloves in the hospital. Gloves are used once, twice or 3 times in routine tracheal
suction work in the Intensive Care Unit ward; after each use, gloves are reprocessed
by using the following steps: decontamination, cleaning, drying, powdering, visually
inspection, packing and sterilization. Finally they are deposited in the Central Sterile
Supply Department of the hospital for next use. After being reprocessed, gloves are
randomly sampled for water leakage, tensile strength and ultimate elongation and they
are also subjected to the Serratia marcescens penetration test. Qualitative risk
assessment of leakage rate, tensile strength and elongation was set up from the
minimum requirements of examination gloves standard of the Food and Drug
Administration or FDA of Thailand.
The results showed that the leakage rate of used medical gloves increased each
time they were used. After 2 times, the leakage rate was over the FDA permitted rate
of 2.5 %. The average tensile strength decreased from 22.19 megapascals after 1 usage
to 20.66 megapascals after 3 usages and there were significant differences among the
three groups (p-value = 0.010). Also a decrease in average elongation was found in
used medical gloves, ranging from 774 to 768 %, but there were no significant
differences among the three groups. While the S. marcescens penetration rate after 1
or 2 usages used were not different the rate increased after 3 usages. The risk of leaky
gloves after 3 usages was determined as a moderate risk while, after 1 or 2 usages,
there was a low risk level.