Evaluating the present draping and gowning practices at Saint Luke’s Hospital operating theatres

Abstract

Surgical draping and gowning practices vary within the Operating Theatres Departments of Saint Luke's Hospital. The aim of the study is to provide a survey of current surgical draping and gowning practices, and the factors that practitioners consider as important when gowning and draping patients for surgery. Data was obtained through the use of a face-to-face interview, with both closed and open-ended questions, from a population of surgeons and administrative nurses (n = 123) working at the three main operating theatres. The response rate was 85 .5%. The 18 participants who did not participate were either on vacation leave, too busy with the work load while the others refused. Hence the findings of the present study are based on 105 participants. Findings of the study suggest that the use of gowns varies among theatre departments. Also there seems to be a gap in knowledge to what is happening in regards to the European Standard for surgical drapes and gowns, though health professionals consider this standard to be important. Practitioners consider health and safety of staff and infection control as the most important factors when selecting gowns and drapes for surgery. From the results practitioners prefer to use disposable material. The main limitations of this study are interviewer bias and the size of the population. As an outcome of this study, recommendations for management and further studies are presented.