SURGICAL GOWNING AND

GLOVING
INTRODUCTION
◈ Scrubbing, gowning, and gloving of surgical
personnel are important elements in the preparation
of an aseptic environment for the patient and surgical
team.
◈ Scrubbed personnel don sterile gowns and sterile
surgical gloves over surgical attire to prevent
microorganisms on their hands and clothing from
being transferred to patients undergoing invasive
procedures.
◈ The sterile gown and gloves also serve to protect the
hands and clothing of surgical personnel from
microorganisms that are present in the patient or the
environment.
Surgical Attire
A preliminary step in the processes of
scrubbing, gowning, and gloving is ensuring
that proper surgical attire is worn. All
members of the surgical team are responsible
for knowing and following facility policies
on surgical attire:
a. Surgical attire should be clean, freshly
laundered, and facility approved for use only
within the surgical suite.
◈ Surgical attire should be changed daily or
more frequently, if it becomes soiled. Soiled
surgical attire should be placed in designated
containers after use.
◈ The surgical attire selected should
completely cover other garments worn
beneath them.
◈ If a two-piece pantsuit is worn, the top of the
scrub suit should be secured at the waist,
tucked into the pants, or fit close to the body
◈ Personnel should cover all head and facial
hair, including sideburns and necklines,
when in the semi-restricted and restricted
areas of the surgical suite.
◈ Masks must be worn in the restricted areas
of the OR suite when open sterile items and
equipment are present. The mask should
fully cover both nose and mouth and be
secured to conform to facial contours and
prevent venting.
◈ In addition to providing proper surgical
attire, personal protective equipment (PPE)
should be available and used to protect
personnel from hazardous conditions in the
semirestricted and restricted areas of
operating suite.
Scrubbing Procedure
The scrub person performs the surgical hand
scrub before donning sterile gown and
gloves.
Before the surgical hand scrub, the scrub person
should open the gown package containing a
sterile gown, towel, and gloves and place
them on a table in the OR.
To prevent possible contamination of the sterile
field, the main instrument table should not
be used for this purpose.
Self-Gowning
Procedure
Picking up the Gown
1. With one hand, pick up the
entire folded gown from the wrapper by
grasping the gown through all layers, being
careful to touch only
the inside top layer which is exposed.
2. Once your hands are
securely pinching the gown in
these slots, step back from the shelf and
allow the gown to drop.
3. Make sure the
gown does not
touch any surrounding un
sterile objects
Opening the Gown
Inserting arms into the sleeves of the gown
4.Grasp the inside shoulder seams and open the go
wn with the armholes facing you.
5. Carefully insert your arms part way into the
gown one at a time, keeping hands at shoulder
level away from the body.
6. Slide the arms further into the gown
sleeves and when the fingertips are level
with the proximal edge of the cuff, grasp the
inside seam at the cuff hem
using thumb and index finger. Be careful
that no part of the hand protrudes from the
sleeve cuff
Put your hands into
the sleeves
Slide your arms
further down the
gown sleeves
Fastening the gown
7. A theater assistant will fasten the gown behind
you, positioning it over the shoulders by
grasping the inside surface of the gown at the
shoulder seam. The theatre assistant’s hands
should only ever be in contact with the inside
surface of the gown.
8. The theatre assistant then prepares
to secure the gown at the neck and upper
back. Gowns differ in how they are secured,
but most with have
either ties, buttons or velcro tabs.
An assistant will
fasten the
gown behind
you. A final tie
will also be
done by the
assistant
Tying a disposable sterile gown
1. There is a cardboard slip
holding two ties together across
the front of the gown.
2. Detach the cardboard slip from the short tie,
ensuring you keep hold of the short tie in
your left hand.
3. Now pass the
cardboard slip to
the theatre assistant,
ensuring not to make
direct
contact with their
hand.
4. They will pass the tie
around your back –
now take the tie,
and let them pull the c
ardboard off the tie so
that you can tie a
bow at your waist.
Detach the tie from
the cardboard and
tie a knot
GLOVING TECHNIQUE
1. Open the inner glove
packet that you
previously dropped
onto your sterile
field.
Pick up one glove by
the folded cuff
edge with your
sleeve-covered
hand
3. Place the glove on the opposite gown sleeve
facing palm down, with the glove fingers
pointing towards you. The palm of the hand
inside the gown sleeve must be facing
upward toward the palm of the glove.
◈ Place the glove’s rolled cuff edge at the seam
that connects the sleeve to the gown cuff.
Grasp the bottom rolled cuff edge of the
glove with the thumb and index finger of the
hand the glove is on top of.
◈ Place the glove on
the opposite gown
sleeve facing palm
down, with the
glove fingers
pointing towards
you.
4. While holding
the glove’s cuff
edge with one
hand, grasp the
uppermost edge
of the glove’s
cuff with the
opposite hand.
5. Continuing to grasp the glove, stretch the
cuff of the glove over the hand.
◈ Using the opposite sleeve covered hand,
grasp both the glove cuff and sleeve cuff
seam and pull the glove onto the hand. Pull
any excessive amount of glove sleeve from
underneath the cuff of the glove.
Pull the glove over
the hand.
6. Using the hand that is now gloved put on the
second glove in the same manner. Check to
make sure that each gown cuff is secured
and covered completely by the cuff of the
glove.
Pick up the glove
Place it on the
sleeve, fingers
pointing
towards you
Pull the gloves over the hand
7. Adjust the fingers of
each glove as
necessary so that
they fit
appropriately.
Key Points
Keep your hands in your sleeves so that you do
not touch the glove on the outside of the
gown with your bare hands.
Keep your hands above your waist and in front
of you
Ensure you do not touch anything around you
that is not sterile – this includes
your face, mask, and hair cap.
 Gowning and Gloving
You Tube Video Link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTBR3yJ5IEs

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