Association of disposable OR jackets with SSIs

Editor's Note

The use of long-sleeved disposable OR jackets as recommended by AORN is not associated with reductions in surgical site infections (SSIs) and presents a fiscal burden, this study finds.

In this analysis of 60,009 patients in 12 hospitals in a large multicenter health organization during a 55 month period, implementation of a mandated OR attire policy for use of disposable OR jackets was not associated with a significant reduction in SSIs in clean procedures.

The overall SSI incidence was 0.87% before policy implementation and 0.83% after implementation. Multivariate analysis also found no significant reduction in SSIs.

A total of 2,010,040 jackets were purchased, which amounted to a cost of $1,709,898.46.

AORN recommends that long sleeves (disposable jackets) be worn by all nonscrubbed personnel in ORs and perioperative areas because long sleeves capture skin squames that are theoretically harboring bacteria and can contaminate sterile areas. However, there is little quality scientific evidence that supports these claims, and a recent body of evidence reports that use of the AORN guidelines is not associated with reductions in SSI incidence, which suggests that surgical attire is not associated with SSIs, the authors say.