Wearing of examination gloves and hygiene practice among dermatologists: A national survey.

Introduction: Touch is essential for dermatologists. Differences in practice, such as whether or not to wear examination gloves, may be seen among dermatologists. To investigate this approach and its associated factors, we conducted a national survey to study hygiene measures and the wearing of gloves among dermatologists, e.g. wearing a coat, hand washing between patient visits, hand shaking and past history of infectious disease transmitted by patients. The context and circumstances in which gloves were worn was studied.

Results: Four hundred and seventy-four dermatologists responded to the survey (median age: 52 years). Most dermatologists reported wearing examination gloves as follows: always (21%, n=99), occasionally (76%, n=359), never (3%, n=13). Most physicians reported wearing a coat (91%, n=419) and routinely washing their hands after examination (53%, n=241). A minority of physicians reported shaking hands (36%, n=163). A significant number of dermatologists reporting that they wore examination gloves were younger and female, and these practitioners also washed their hands more frequently. The most common reason cited by dermatologists wearing gloves "occasionally" was patient hygiene (71%, n=256) rather than infectious skin disease (52%, n=186). This practice was ascribable more to concerns by dermatologists about protecting themselves (78%, n=270) rather than protecting patients (51%, n=169). Finally, it was felt that wearing gloves impaired neither the quality of clinical examination (52%, n=173) nor relations with patients (49%, n=160).

Conclusion: Although wearing gloves is not recommended for examining unbroken skin, most of the respondents reported wearing examination gloves during their consultations. Wearing of gloves was associated with more frequent hygiene measures (hand washing, no handshaking) and was based on concern for self-protection.