Effects of Changing Gloves, Forceps and Normal Saline during Colon Cancer Surgery in Korea

Objectives: This study was conducted to investigate the effects of exchanging surgical gloves, forceps and the normal saline during surgeries in lowering the level of the contamination. Methods/Statistical Analysis: 92 colon cancer surgeries were randomly allotted into one of four groups. Three different methods were tried: changing gloves in the experimental Group 1, changing forceps in the Experimental Group 2, changing normal saline used for operation in the Experimental Group 3 and no changing any materials with the standard operation method in the control group. After each operation finished, samples were taken and cultured for obtaining the contamination rate. Findings: Study results were as follow: the level of contamination in the experimental group 1 with exchanging gloves after extraction of the lesions of colon was significantly lower than that of the Control Group-Gloves. The method of exchanging the normal saline also demonstrated the effectiveness in lowering the level of contamination of the normal saline. The effectiveness of exchanging forceps was proved as the level of contamination in the experimental group 3 used the method of exchanging the forceps was significantly lower than the control group. Applications: These findings can be utilized as the evidenced foundation to establish the theoretical guidelines or the standards of practice for the surgical instruments to control the surgical site infection effectively.