The impact of the use of different types of gloves and bare hands for preparation of clean surgical instruments

OBJECTIVES: to determine if there are differences on the safety of the preparation of clean surgical instruments using different types of gloves and bare hands and evaluate the microbiological load of these preparations without gloves. METHOD: laboratory procedure with a pragmatic approach, in which the samples were handled with different types of gloves and bare hands. In addition, cytotoxicity assays were carried out by means of the agar diffusion method. Further samples were subjected to microbiological analysis after being handled without gloves. RESULTS: none of the samples showed cytotoxic effect. All microbiological cultures showed growth of microorganisms, but no microorganism has been recovered after autoclaving. CONCLUSION: there were no differences in the cytotoxic responses regarding the use of different types of gloves and bare hands in the handling of clean surgical instruments, which could entail iatrogenic risk. It is noteworthy that the use of gloves involves increase in the costs of process and waste generation, and the potential allergenic risk to latex.