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CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Avicenna J Med 2019; 9(01): 15-22
DOI: 10.4103/AJM.AJM_146_18
ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Gender differences in practicing standard precautions against blood-borne pathogens among surgeons at a tertiary care center: A cross-sectional study

Shahad Yousefr Alsaigh
College of Medicine, King Saud Bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
,
Amal Aboudr Alasmari
College of Medicine, King Saud Bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
,
Anadel Hassanr Hakeem
College of Medicine, King Saud Bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
,
Amairah Fahadr Aloushan
College of Medicine, King Saud Bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
,
Fatemah Saleh Binr Saleh
College of Medicine, King Saud Bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
,
Alaa Althubaiti
College of Medicine, King Saud Bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
,
Zeyad Yousef
Department of Surgery, King Abdulaziz Medical City, National Guard Health Affairs, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
› Author Affiliations Financial support and sponsorship Nil.
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Abstract

Background: Surgeons are at an increased risk of contracting blood-borne pathogens. The aim of this study was to evaluate gender difference, surgical position, surgical experience, and subspecialty regarding surgeons’ compliance to standard precautions. Methods: A cross-sectional questionnaire-based study was performed using a purposive sampling. A total of 241 surgeons were surveyed from June 2017 to January 2018. Results: In total, 179 (74.3%) males and 62 (25.7%) females completed the questionnaire. The gender difference was evident when the type of surgery was extremely important in influencing the decision on wearing double gloves (DGs); 108 (60.3%) male surgeons versus 27 (43.5%) female surgeons (P = 0.022). Although a total of 17 (30.3%) surgeons reported being extremely and very concerned about contracting human immunodeficiency virus through their work, they had never tried DG (P = 0.027). Conclusion: This study revealed that the decision of wearing DG was affected by several factors. Surgeons’ decision to wear DG was influenced by the type of surgery. This study showed that most surgeons reported lack of adherence to barrier precaution measures.

Keywords

Barrier precautions - blood-borne pathogens - double gloving - surgeons - surgical positions - surgical specialty


Publication History

Article published online:
09 August 2021

© 2019. Syrian American Medical Society. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial-License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

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