No Link Between Inadvertent Surgical Glove Contamination and Surgical Site Infection in Patients Undergoing Elective Neurosurgical Operations

Abstract

Introduction: Controllable factors associated with surgical site infections (SSIs) have focused on reducing contamination of the surgical field with potential pathogens. The aim of this prospective study is to determine the incidence of glove contamination in a series of elective neurosurgical operations and determine the relationship of such glove contamination to subsequent SSI. We hypothesize that contamination of surgical gloves is associated with subsequent SSI.

Methods: In this prospective quality improvement study, gloves of the surgical team were swabbed for standard culture just prior to wound closure of elective neurosurgical operations. Patient characteristics, surgical details, and occurrence of subsequent SSIs were collected retrospectively from the electronic medical records. Data were analyzed with χ² with Fisher's exact test and Student's t test.

Results: Surgical glove contamination occurred in 10 of 96 elective neurosurgical cases (10.4%). SSIs occurred in 6 cases (6.2%), but no SSI occurred in a case in which surgical glove contamination occurred (P = 1). SSI was associated with younger patient age (P = 0.0448), and surgical glove contamination was associated with less resident experience (P = 0.0354).

Conclusions: Surgical glove contamination identified at the time of wound closure does not correlate with the development of subsequent SSI in elective neurosurgical operations.

Keywords: Glove contamination; Neurosurgery; Quality improvement; Surgical site infection.