Why are overhead gowns necessary?
In today’s era, a lot of diseases spread due to physical contact or due to highly contagious microbial infections. It also needs to be taken under consideration that in the recent past, a lot of cases have emerged wherein HAI (Health Associated Infections), are taking a toll on people’s health. A lot of infectious diseases are caused because of the contact with skin cells, blood as well bodily fluids’ secretion. Keeping these factors in mind, it is very important for the organisations to manufacture gowns that are resistant to any form of infection and that are durable enough to last for considerable time. It would be pertinent to underline here a lot of life-threatening viruses such as HCV and HBV can be caused due to dearth of proper covering of the exposed body parts and that is why overhead gowns become all the more important.
Types of overhead gowns
On the basis of the purpose, duration, the surgical procedure as well as the presence of fluid management involved in the process, many types of overhead gowns are available in the market and all of those serve the same purpose with variations only in terms of material as per the threat of catching the infection is recognized. AAMI and ANSI are some of the most revered institutions who issue their guidelines for the kind of overhead gowns to be used.
1. Minimal Protection- In case of simple ear, nose or throat biopsies, a low protection overhead gown is preferred and it serves the task pretty well. It involves minimal risks.
2. Low Protection- As the name suggests, these overhead gowns are used by the medical attendants in case a minimally invasive surgery is to take place. Even in the situations when gastrointestinal therapies are to take place, these kinds of gowns are used.
3. Moderate Protection- In case of medical cases like transurethral therapies are supposed to take place, moderate overhead gowns are used. Mastectomies is also carried out while using the level -3 overhead gowns.
4. High Protection– High level overhead gowns are used only in the cases wherein some extreme form of threat is involved in terms of secretion of blood, bodily fluid and other visceral discretion. These are also known as level-4 overhead gowns and can be used during the procedures of trauma treatment as well as caesarean section procedure.
Guidelines to follow while manufacturing or selling an overhead gown
The institution which takes into account the effectiveness evaluation of surgical gowns is AAMI. It is supposed to be based on the principal of international standards of hygiene as well as clothing to be chosen for the manufacturing of overhead gowns. At the same time, it also discourages the use of terms like “impervious” as they are found to be extremely delusional in their intent as well as purpose. All the criterion has to be properly followed and any kind of vague and abstract labelling is to be straight-away repudiated.
It also needs to be ascertained that these gowns are breathable and are comfortable for the wearer. A lot of microfibers are used by the industry to fully ensure the credibility of the gowns. Moreover, since everyone involved in this paradigm i.e. from material managers to OR Directors have to wear them and hence the supply of the same has to be accelerated. The only thing that has to be of utmost importance is the fact that the right kind of overhead gown is chosen under the right kind of circumstances. A correspondence with the vendors, sterilisation of the gowns and cost-effective mechanism are to be considered thereafter.
Article Credit: https://www.surgeine.com/blog/overhead-gowns-everything-you-need-to-know/