The integrity of surgical gloves during gynaecological operations.

The study was designed to evaluate the integrity of all surgical gloves, worn as single-gloving, used in 100 consecutive gynaecological operations. Glove perforations were tested by a standardized hydrosufflation technique. Of the 326 pairs of gloves used, 46 were found to have perforations (an overall rate of 7.1%) and about 30% had more than 1 perforation. The rate of glove perforation was 19% among charge nursing sisters, 16% among surgeons and 13% among first assistants--these differences were not statistically significant. The duration of the operation and degree of operative difficulty strongly influenced the rate of perforation. We recommend that surgeons, charge sisters and first assistants should change their gloves after every hour of the operation and use double-gloving in anticipation of a difficult operation.