The hands-free technique is the indirect transfer of surgical instruments between surgeon(s) and other scrubbed personnel as well as circulating personnel, during which only one person touches the same sharp item at the same time. Items are usually placed in a designated neutral zone, which can be a section of the surgical field or a container, from where they can be retrieved. / Use of the hands-free technique for passing sharp instruments during surgery has been recommended as a work practice by many professional organizations in order to reduce accidents, but its effectiveness has not been adequately studied. This study was designed to determine whether use of the hands-free technique resulted in a decrease in injuries, contaminations and glove tears. / A prospective approach was used. All surgeries performed from the end of October, 1995 to mid-April 1996 at The Providence Medical Center in Seattle, Washington were eligible for inclusion in the study. / In 3,765 of 5,388 (70%) eligible surgeries performed during that five and one/half month period, circulating nurses filled out forms in the operating rooms right after a surgical case, assessing the proportion of passes done where no more than one person touched a sharp instrument at the same time. / In addition to use of the hands-free technique during surgery, type of surgery, length of surgery, bloodloss during surgery, noise levels, emergency status, number of personnel present and time of day, were also recorded. / Results. The hands-free technique was used, as defined, in about 42% of the surgeries. In another 50% of the surgeries it was used half the time or almost never. It was not used at all in 8% of surgeries. An overall injury, contamination and glove tear rate of 3.9% was measured during the study period. / Conclusion. Use of the hands-free technique at The Providence Medical Center during the study period was associated with a reduction in injuries, contaminations and glove tears, in surgeries with more than 100cc blood loss but a similar reduction was not observed when blood loss was less than 100 cc. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.35628 |
| Date | January 1998 |
| Creators | Stringer, Bernadette. |
| Contributors | Infante-Rivard, Claire (advisor) |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Doctor of Philosophy (Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001635569, proquestno: NQ44601, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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