Does Gloved Medical Personnel Scratch Less Often?

Unconscious touching of a person's own head or neck (for example by scratching) is a frequently observed and completely normal physiological movement pattern in humans, which when done by medical personnel attending a patient poses a high risk of unconscious self-contamination, even of an already disinfected hand, and of subsequent contamination of the patient. However, as compared to an ungloved hand, a gloved hand is felt to be "foreign," which could reduce the frequency of self-contact and thus the contamination rate.

Wearing protective gloves is highly recommended in medical practice. The purpose of this study is to explore how wearing, or not wearing, protective gloves affects

* the frequency of unconscious self-contact * contamination of the gloved/ungloved hand

Completed

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Key information

Conditions

Hygiene Adherence Interventions Behavior Equipment Contamination Health Behavior Health Education Medication Adherence Patient Acceptance of Health Care Patient Compliance Treatment Adherence and Compliance

Age range

18 year–30 year

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Observational

Primary location

University Hospital

Innsbruck, 6020, Austria

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: Yes

Only the study team can determine whether someone qualifies for participation.

Inclusion criteria

Medical students working in a simulated OR environment

Treatment and study plan

wearing gloves

Procedure

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

Medical University Innsbruck

Other

Registry information

Important dates

Study start: 2007
Study completion: 2007
First posted: Jan 22, 2007
Registry last updated: Feb 10, 2009

OpenTrials presents study information sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov. The official registry record should be consulted for the latest information.

View the official ClinicalTrials.gov record (opens in a new tab)

This listing is for discovery and informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, does not guarantee that a study is recruiting, and does not determine eligibility. Contact the study team and a qualified healthcare professional when considering participation.

Published trials that share one or more normalized conditions with this study.

Completed