Cochrane reviews on double-gloving

Objectives

The two Cochrane reviews assessed different aspects of double-gloving and aimed to:

• assess whether additional glove protection reduces the number of underglove perforations • determine whether there is a clinically significant difference in using extra gloves for preventing needlestick injuries during surgery as well as to evaluate whether double gloving has a negative impact on the healthcare professional's hand skills (dexterity) 
  

Methodology

• Tanner et al, 2006, compared single-gloving, double-gloving and coloured puncture-indicating systems and included thirty-one randomized controlled trials measuring glove perforations .
• The review from 2014, included thirty-four randomized controlled trials measuring glove perforations. Increasing numbers of glove layers (single, double, triple) were evaluated .
• This review also included four additional gloving methods (glove liner, cloth overgloves, steel-weave overgloves and triple gloves)  .
• Risk was determined through the measurement of perforations and self-reported needlestick injuries. Dexterity was measured via self-reporting and perforation rate .