Letter to the editor: Non-sterile gloves and dressing versus sterile gloves, dressings and drapes for suturing of traumatic wounds in the emergency department: a non-inferiority multicentre randomised controlled trial

I read with interest the recently published article by Zwaans et al.1 This paper provides essential information about the safety of non-sterile gloves and dressing for suturing traumatic wounds in the ED. Conducting a nationwide randomised control trial is a considerable undertaking. I would like to emphasise the importance of this paper further. The biggest concern is the number of patients excluded. The number of patients who did not give consent amounts to 441, which is one-sixth of the total number of eligible patients. This large number of exclusions could create a selection bias and so clarification of the reasons for the lack of consent is important if the authors have collected this. If the reason for non-consent were due to fear of infection, this would indicate that patients feel anxious about having their wounds treated with a non-sterile technique. We appreciate the authors’ comments on this,...
Source: Emergency Medicine Journal - Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Tags: PostScript Source Type: research