Needle puncture resistance of surgical gloves, finger guards, and glove liners

✍ Scribed by Leslie, Lawrence F. ;Woods, Julia A. ;Thacker, John G. ;Morgan, Raymond F. ;McGregor, Walter ;Edlich, Richard F.

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1996
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 614 KB
• Volume: 33
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0021-9304
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1097-4636(199621)33:1<41::aid-jbm7>3.0.co;2-m

✦ Synopsis

New puncture resistant materials are being developed for health professional use as protection against disease and needle stick injuries. The needle puncture resistance of protective gloves and glove liners from DePuy DuPont Orthopaedics and of finger guards from Zimmer was evaluated using a computerized needle penetration system to determine maximal penetration forces and the penetration work required for taper point and for cutting edge needles to penetrate these membranes. The MedakTM portion of the Life LinerTM glove liner and the Spectra@ portion of the FingGuardTM finger guard offered remarkable resistance against needle penetration as compared to the other glove liners and gloves tested. The cutting edge needles required considerably less penetration force and work to penetrate the FingGuardTM and Life LinerTM than that required with comparable sized taper point needles. Because these unique protective materials had a limited distribution over the hand, the surgeon's hand remained susceptible to inadvertent needle puncture. While this protection against needle penetration in the Life LinerTM and the FingGuardTM represents an exciting advance in surgery, it is important to emphasize that this development is only one consideration in the selection of surgical gloves.