Effectiveness of Gloves for Infection Control - Student and Provider Perspectives

Objectives: To explore how dental and dental hygiene students differ in their perception of the effectiveness of gloves for infection control from graduate dental students and from dental care providers. In addition, it will be investigated how these perceptions may affect their professional behavior.

Methods: Data were collected from 248 students (200 dental and 48 dental hygiene students), from 34 graduate students, and from 66 oral health care providers (24 dentists and 42 dental hygienists in private practice). The subjects responded to a self administered anonymous survey.

Results: While 42% of the providers and 53.8% of the graduate students were aware that different types of gloves provide different degrees of protection, only 27.8% of the students were aware of this fact (p=.012). In addition, students' and graduate students' preferences for certain types of gloves were less differentiated than the providers' preferences: 92.4% of the providers had clear preferences for certain gloves compared to 76.5% of graduate and 78.6% of other students (p=.031). Compared to students, providers responded that gloves need to be changed less frequently (p=.049). The less frequent providers think gloves need to be changed, the less often they change them during a 3 hour long procedure (r=.130; p=.019).

Conclusions: Educating providers and students about the effectiveness of gloves for infection control should become a priority. Large percentages of students and providers need to be informed more comprehensively about this topic. For the purpose of quality control, it is important to have stringent standards of education about the effectiveness of gloves as barrier protection. Whether these standards are influenced by the type and length of the procedure being performed should be investigated. With increasing prevalence of infectious diseases, it is crucial to provide the highest standard of protection to patients and providers.