Hand Hygiene Before Non-sterile Glove Use

The Utility of Hand Hygiene Before Non-sterile Glove Use

The importance of healthcare worker hand hygiene in decreasing bacterial transmission between patients is well documented. Healthcare workers may don non-sterile gloves in routine care of patients, particularly for those patients known or suspected to harbor epidemiologically important microorganisms. Governing bodies currently recommend performing hand hygiene prior to donning gloves and after glove removal. The importance of hand hygiene post glove removal is well shown, however few studies exist to show utility of hand hygiene prior to donning gloves. In fact, data suggests that glove use is an impediment to hand hygiene and may reduce compliance with hand washing. In light of this and the fact that no evidence exists that washing hands BEFORE glove use is important, the aim of the study is to asses the utility of routine hand hygiene prior to donning non-sterile gloves before a patient contact.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Hand Hygiene
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Hand Hygiene before Donning Non-sterile Gloves

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 230
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Maryland
    • Baltimore, Maryland, United States, 21201
      • University of Maryland Medical Center

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years and older (ADULT, OLDER_ADULT)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Healthcare worker engaging in direct patient contact on Contact Precautions (e.g. expected glove use)
• >= 18 years of age

Exclusion Criteria:

• Visibly soiled hands requiring hand washing (cannot randomize)
• Non-compliance with glove use as indicated for care of patient on Contact Precautions

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: PREVENTION
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Interventional Model: SINGLE_GROUP
• Masking: SINGLE

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
EXPERIMENTAL: Donning Gloves without Hand Hygiene; In this arm, healthcare workers will be assigned to don non-sterile gloves prior to patient contact WITHOUT first performing hand hygiene. Samples will be obtained from hands prior to donning gloves and from the gloves after donning to determine total aerobic colony counts and to identify important hospital pathogens	Behavioral: Hand Hygiene before Donning Non-sterile Gloves; In the "No Intervention" arm, healthcare workers will be assigned to first perform hand hygiene before donning non-sterile gloves prior to patient contact (usual practice). Samples will be obtained from hands prior to donning gloves and from the gloves after donning to determine total aerobic colony counts and to identify important hospital pathogens In the Experimental arm, they will be instructed to don gloves without washing their hands as described.
NO_INTERVENTION: Hand Hygiene before donning Non-Sterile Gloves; In this arm, healthcare workers will be assigned to first perform hand hygiene before donning non-sterile gloves prior to patient contact (This is usual,expected practice). Samples will be obtained from hands prior to donning gloves and from the gloves after donning to determine total aerobic colony counts and to identify important hospital pathogens

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Difference in Total Aerobic Colony Counts	The Difference in Total Aerobic Colony Counts from hands at baseline (Group 1, prior to Hand Hygiene; Group 2, prior to donning gloves) to gloves after donning	The total time of participation from the healthcare worker will be approximately 2-3 minutes, the time needed to perform hand hygiene and don gloves (group 1) or don gloves (group 2).

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Pathogen Identification	Gloves will be sampled from both groups after donning and evaluation for important hospital pathogens will be performed	The total time of participation from the healthcare worker will be approximately 2-3 minutes, the time needed to perform hand hygiene and don gloves (group 1) or don gloves (group 2).

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Maryland, Baltimore

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start: April 1, 2012
• Primary Completion (ACTUAL): June 1, 2012
• Study Completion (ACTUAL): June 1, 2012

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: March 29, 2012
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 3, 2012
• First Posted (ESTIMATE): April 5, 2012

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (ACTUAL): March 18, 2022
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: March 3, 2022
• Last Verified: March 1, 2022

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Hand Hygiene; Non-sterile Glove Use
• Other Study ID Numbers: HP-00051378