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We have no evidence that surgeons scrubbing before donning gloves makes sense either. In fact, there's an undergraduate experiment where people scrub for up to

We have no evidence that surgeons scrubbing before donning gloves makes sense either. In fact, there's an undergraduate experiment where people scrub for up to 3-4 minutes and swab after every 10 seconds and plate the swab. The plates actually show more colony-forming units until about 3 minutes, which is much longer than most surgeons scrub. Which suggests that the scrubbing actually liberates bacteria found at the margin of the stratum corneum.

boobsbr 10y ago
VERY interesting. Care to share the paper? EDIT: Some surgeons argue that having a beard can carry more bacteria into a surgery room, while others argue that shaving might make the surgeon more susceptible to infection by bacteria from the surgery room, since epitelial cells are removed by the razor blade.
- niels_olson 10y ago
  The experiment I described is done in undergrad bio labs, I honestly can't find a paper a paper on it. Anyone with an interest: there's a paper that could easily be published!
Kristine1975 10y ago
>Which suggests that the scrubbing actually liberates bacteria found at the margin of the stratum corneum. Wouldn't that mean that after scrubbing the bacteria are no longer there?
- deegles 10y ago
  Yes, but they have to scrub for at least 3 minutes, which most people don't do.
mattkrause 10y ago
> which is much longer than most surgeons scrub. How sure are you about this? There's usually some kind of timer (and, sometimes, an assistant) to ensure that you wash for the specified amount of time. Also, I always figured that scrubbing was essentially a precaution in case the gloves ripped or snagged (which, being thin latex, is far from improbable).
- awqrre 10y ago
  Many hospitals banned latex but your point probably applies to it's replacement too.
  - mattkrause 10y ago
    The "exam" gloves that doctors and dentists wear are typically nitrile, but I think most surgical gloves are still latex. I know ours are. The surgical gloves are longer, have cuffs, and come in a lot more sizes. They are alternatives for allergic patients (and surgeons), but they're a little thicker and a bit more expensive.

boobsbr 10y ago

VERY interesting. Care to share the paper? EDIT: Some surgeons argue that having a beard can carry more bacteria into a surgery room, while others argue that shaving might make the surgeon more susceptible to infection by bacteria from the surgery room, since epitelial cells are removed by the razor blade.

niels_olson 10y ago
The experiment I described is done in undergrad bio labs, I honestly can't find a paper a paper on it. Anyone with an interest: there's a paper that could easily be published!

Kristine1975 10y ago

>Which suggests that the scrubbing actually liberates bacteria found at the margin of the stratum corneum. Wouldn't that mean that after scrubbing the bacteria are no longer there?

deegles 10y ago
Yes, but they have to scrub for at least 3 minutes, which most people don't do.

mattkrause 10y ago

> which is much longer than most surgeons scrub. How sure are you about this? There's usually some kind of timer (and, sometimes, an assistant) to ensure that you wash for the specified amount of time. Also, I always figured that scrubbing was essentially a precaution in case the gloves ripped or snagged (which, being thin latex, is far from improbable).

awqrre 10y ago
Many hospitals banned latex but your point probably applies to it's replacement too.
- mattkrause 10y ago
  The "exam" gloves that doctors and dentists wear are typically nitrile, but I think most surgical gloves are still latex. I know ours are. The surgical gloves are longer, have cuffs, and come in a lot more sizes. They are alternatives for allergic patients (and surgeons), but they're a little thicker and a bit more expensive.