226 posters, 5 topics, 20 sessions, 598 authors, 292 institutions
ePostersLive by SciGen Technologies S.A. All rights reserved.
Obstetric Anaesthesia Annual Scientific Meeting 2026
14-15 May 2026 | Liverpool Convention Centre
7159488
To gown or not to gown... that is the question!
Poster Presenter
Authors
Affiliations
Part of Topic
Surveys
Introduction
-2025 draft guidance from the Association of Anaesthetists suggests the use of sterile gowns for single-shot spinal (SSS) anaesthesia should not be considered mandatory
-Already established guidance in the USA and Canada1
-A full surgical scrub for a SSS injection is obligatory both in our organisation and in the majority of the UK
-If the new guidance is approved, we anticipate there may be significant reluctance to abolish this practice
-We wanted to establish the views of our anaesthetic department, obstetricians and theatre staff
Methods
-Bespoke online survey collecting anonymous responses
-We asked respondents about:
-Their standard aseptic practice for SSS
-Awareness of the draft guidance
-If individual practice would change if the guidance is published
-For obstetricians and theatre staff; what their comfort level was of the proposed measures and if they would be happy for the anaesthetist to stop wearing a sterile gown for SSS anaesthesia
This was distributed among mailing lists was open to responses for two weeks.
Results
We received 44 responses, with the majority coming from anaesthetists (70%) – see Figure 1.
ANAESTHETISTS
-All always use skin prep, sterile drapes, a hat, mask, gown and gloves, only altering this practice in a category 1 caesarean (cat 1 c/s) section
-35% were aware of the draft guidance
-55% would observe it when it comes into practice
-16% would observe this practice for select patients only, namely time critical cat 1 c/s
OBSTETRICIANS
-None were aware of the draft guidance
-Varying levels of comfort were displayed with the concept (Figure 2)
-71% said they would be happy for the anaesthetist to stop gowning if the guidance was accepted
THEATRE STAFF
-63% were unaware of the draft guidance
-Again, varying levels of comfort were displayed with the suggestion of not wearing a sterile gown for SSS anaesthesia (Figure 3.)
-Only 25% said they would be happyfor the anaesthetist to stop gowning for SSS if this was recommended, with 38% saying they would be happy for certain patients only, such as a cat 1 c/s
Discussion
Since our initial survey, the guidance has been formally published.2 As anticipated, there is significant hesitation amongst the anaesthetic cohort to adopt proposed new measures, with just under 30% maintaining current practice of full sterile scrub for SSS even if guidance suggested this is unnecessary.
What is surprising is the wide acceptance of the obstetricians versus the reluctance of the theatre staff to the abandonment of the sterile gown for the anaesthetist performing SSS injection. Despite the potential environmental, economic and time-saving benefits the guidance could bring, our results question whether this will be adopted widely enough to allow these benefits to be seen.
References
1.BH Tuohey, CL Shelton, S Dieleman et al. Time to re-evaluate the routine use of sterile gowns in neuraxial anaesthesia. Anaesth Intensive Care 2024; 52: 197–199. https://doi.org/10.1177/0310057x231210314
2.Phillips, C., Bahra, M., Metodiev, Y. et al. Use of sterile gowns for single-shot spinal anaesthesia: consensus guidelines from the Association of Anaesthetists, Royal College of Anaesthetists, Obstetric Anaesthetists' Association, Regional Anaesthesia UK, College of Anaesthesiologists of Ireland and Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists. Anaesthesia. 2026. https://doi.org/10.1111/anae.70212