Contaminação Microbiana Das Luvas De Procedimento Após a Abertura Da Caixa E Durante Sua Exposição Ambiental Contaminación Microbiana De Guantes De Procedimiento Luego De La Abertura De La Caja Y Durante Exposición Ambiental

The objective of this study was to quantify the colony forming units (cfu) on latex procedure gloves in the beginning, middle, and end of the containers in real (professional) and controlled (researcher) gloving situations; evaluate the microbial load of the gloves, considering the time of exposure in the environment. This comparative prospective study was conducted at an intensive care unit of a teaching hospital. The microbiological data was collected from the gloves using digital-pressure. Microbiological evaluations were performed on 186 pairs of gloves: 93 in the control group and 93 in real gloving situations. In the control group, the average cfu was 4.7 against 6.2 in the real gloving situation. Hence, no statistically significant difference was found (p=.601). In addition, the cfu values of gloves in the beginning, middle and end of the containers also did not show any significant differences (p>.05). The most common strain was Staphylococcus spp. The time of exposure in the environment did not increase the cfu value of the latex gloves. DESCRIPTORS Gloves, surgical Intensive Care Units Cross infection RESUMEN Trabajo que objetivó cuantificar las Unidades Formadoras de Colonias (UFC) en guantes de látex para procedimientos al inicio, mitad y final de las cajas en situación real (profesional) y control (investigador) de uso de guantes: evaluar carga microbiana de guantes considerando tiempo de exposición ambiental. Estudio comparativo prospectivo realizado en unidad de terapia intensiva de hospital-escuela. La recolección de muestras microbiológicas de guantes se realizó mediante dígito presión. Se evaluaron microbiológicamente 186 pares de guantes, 93 en grupo control y 93 en situación real de uso. En grupo control, la media de UFC fue de 4,7 y en situación real 6,2. Consecuentemente, no hubo diferencia estadísticamente significativa (p>0,601). Tampoco se observó diferencia significativa de UFC en comienzo, mitad y final de cajas (p>0,05). La cepa Staphylococcus spp. fue la más frecuente. El tiempo de exposición ambiental de los guantes de látex no determinó aumento de UFC. DESCRIPTORES Guantes quirúrgicos Unidades de Terapia Intensiva Infección hospitalaria Recebido: 09/04/2009 Aprovado: 04/10/2010 Português / Inglês www.scielo.br/reeusp 746 Rev Esc Enferm USP 2011; 45(3):745-50 www.ee.usp.br/reeusp/ Microbial contamination of procedure gloves after opening the container and during exposure in the environment Ferreira AM, Andrade D, Haas VJ INTRODUÇÃO The use of latex gloves is considered an effective resource for health care workers safety against exposure to body fluids and their use is a practice most easily conducted in everyday practice, and thus avoids contamination to patients, materials, and the environment. Therefore, gloves are recommended in clinical practice in activities involving biological risks, such as venous punctures, intravenous medication administration, managing dressings, insertion of enteral feeding tubes, managing contaminated material such as clothes, and other procedures. The wide range of procedures associated with biological risk and cross-infection are among the factors that have made it difficult to choose the most appropriate glove. For this reason, studies about the use of procedure and sterile gloves remain contradictory from a microbiological safety viewpoint. In this sense, the indication of wearing procedure gloves in certain activities and preferring them to sterile gloves need further studies. Consequently, there are gaps regarding the microbiological safety of gloves from the beginning to the end of the box. The hands of healthcare workers can be highly contaminated, especially during routine care procedures when they are exposed to body fluids. In addition to hand hygiene, nonsterile gloves are an important tool in minimizing cross-transmission of microorganisms from one patient to another. However, healthcare workers must be aware that nonsterile disposable gloves could be contaminated with a wide range of bacteria. Because bacteria can survive for several months in the environment and because nonsterile disposable gloves are widely used for care procedures involving mucosa and as the Brazilian manufacturing standards for nonsterile gloves only require physical testing, guidelines and quality norms on bacterial contamination of disposable gloves are needed. Little information is available regarding microbial contamination of open box gloves before and during use. To our knowledge, this study is the first in Brazil to have investigated the bacterial contamination of nonsterile disposable gloves in the hospital setting.