An overview of the various parameters to consider for producing surgical gowns beginning with raw materials, methods of

sterilisation to building parameters and more.  

Surgical gowns used by medical professionals are essential protective equipment for

securing one's health from various pathogens such as bacteria, viruses. If the pores

of the garments are less than the size of the microbes, micro-organisms cannot pass

through it. For producing garments, manufacturers have to be concerned about the

specification, comfort and cost of the products. It is really difficult to incorporate

each criterion. But manufacturers always try to develop their methods depending on

global response. This article discusses classification of the surgical gowns based on

fabric types and factors considered for their production process.

Classification on the basis of fabrics

According to fabric types, surgical gowns can be classified into three types:

Cotton/cotton-polyester: These are traditional fabrics having large pore sizes

through which micro-organisms can easily pass leading to poor barrier effects. For

providing better barrier quality, tightly woven fabrics should be blended with polyester

and long staple cotton and treated with liquid repellent fluorocarbons. These kinds of

fabrics are reusable but need to be applied by a repellent finishing agent for enhancing

the barrier effects as it reduces after each wash.

Microfilament fabrics: These are tightly woven fabrics just like cotton/cotton-

polyester, yet they are made from very fine filaments. They are subjected to hydrophobic

agent during the reprocessing process.

Multilayer fabrics: Multiple layers are used for achieving desirable objectives

here. For example, outer layers are designed to resist abrasion and puncture, middle

layers ensure resistance of fluid penetration and bottom layers provide comfort to

users.

According to usage purposes, the gowns can be divided into two ways, like

medical face mask

:

Disposable type surgical gowns: These types of surgical gowns used for one-time purpose, are made

by nonwoven techniques. In the US, disposable surgical gowns and drapes dominate around

90 per cent of the market place For this single use product, manufacturers sterilise the

product and pass it on to the users. In this way, it is more comfortable to the users

and the barrier quality is also good. But as it is used only a single time, it increases

environmental hazard and cost of the products.

Reusable types surgical gowns: Reusable gowns made from woven fabrics are used

multiple times. It ensures lower clinical wastage and has cost benefits. But it is

difficult to maintain a good barrier life for these gowns on account of continuous

recycling process which makes it unsafe after a point of time.


Factors Considered for Production Process

There are various parameters involved in surgical gown disposable

production such as raw materials, methods of sterilisation, building parameters. 

Raw Materials: Different types of fibre can be used as raw material but polyester

dominates the most because of its availability, comfort, barrier and costs.

Building Parameters: Besides nonwoven fabrics, plain and twill structure can be used

in surgical gowns and face mask.

Nowadays, researchers suggest using plain weave instead of twill weave as twill weave

contains large pores between cross points.

Methods of sterilisation: Sterilisation methods are applied to fabrics used in

surgical textiles for preventing them from catching infections. There are four types of

sterilisation methods which exist worldwide. They are gas, irradiation, steam autoclave

and dry heat. First two types are low temperature methods used for disposable types of

sterile

surgical gowns and the last two types are related to high temperature method used

for reusable surgical gowns with

surgical pack. Steam autoclave is widely used because it is effective, safe and

inexpensive but it is not suitable for heat and moisture sensitive fabrics. Ethylene

oxide (Eto) is more suitable for this method but it produces toxic and long cycles. Thus

we can consider two common methods as an alternative to the other methods - Steris

System and the Sterrad system.

Steris System: It is a microprocessor controlled low temperature sterilisation

method that has rapid cycle times of approximately 30 minutes. The ecofriendly by-

products sterilant flows through a flexible endoscope that facilities salt, protein, and

microbe removal. But a small number of instruments are processed in a cycle.

Sterrad System: The sterilisation system may use the combination of hydrogen

peroxide and low temperature gas plasma with temperature ranges from 45oc to 50 oc and

operation time cycles time varying from 45 to 70 minutes. Hydrogen peroxide is known as

an antimicrobial agent. Free radicals of hydrogen peroxide interact with the cell

membrane, nucleic acid, or enzymes to break the life function of micro-organism. This

has a small sterilisation chamber of about 3-5 ft3.

About the Author: Mehedi Hasan Chaion is an undergraduate student of the Department

of Textile Engineering at Jashore University of Science and Technology (JUST), Jashore,

Bangladesh.

References:

(Behera & Arora, 2009) (McCarthy, 2011) (Rutala & Weber, 1999) Behera, B. K., &

Arora, H. (2009). Surgical Gown: A Critical Review. Journal of Industrial Textiles, 38

(3), 205-231. https://doi.org/10.1177/1528083708091251

McCarthy, B. J. (Ed.). (2011). Textiles for hygiene and infection control. Oxford:

Woodhead Publ. [u.a.].

Rutala, WA, & Weber, D. J. (1999). Infection control: The role of disinfection and

sterilization. Journal of Hospital Infection, 43, S43-S55.

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0195-6701(99)90065-8