A SURVEY OF GLOVE PREFERENCES OF GENERAL AND ORTHOPEDIC SURGEONS IN NORTH-WEST THAMES REGIONAL HEALTH AUTHORITY

The glove preferences of all the consultant surgeons and consultant or thopaedic surgeons in North West Thames were surveyed bp questionnaire . Responses were received from 59 of 78 general surgeons and 47 of 55 orthopaedic surgeons. Twenty-two percent of general surgeons never dou ble gloved compared with 4% of orthopaedic surgeons (P<0.01). Seventy- three percent of general surgeons double gloved for 'high risk' patien ts compared with 17% of orthopaedic surgeons (P<0.001). When double gl oving the majority of surgeons (67%) used their normal sized glove ins ide and half a size larger on the outside.