Points: Does wearing two pairs of gloves protect against skin contamination?

Abstract

Society of Anaesthesiologists' (ASA) grade system (ASA I, healthy patient; ASA II, mild systemic disease; ASA III, severe, nonincapacitating systemic disease; ASA IV, severe, incapacitating systemic disease which is a constant threat to life; and ASA V, moribund patient, not expected to live for 24 hours with or without surgery) abnormal values were found in 1-5% of patients in grade I, 17% in grade II, 35% in grade III, and 48% in grades IV and V.' In addition, most abnormal values in patients in grade II were minor and not clinically important. Therefore patients in grades I and II do not need routine estimations of urea and electrolyte concentrations whereas those in grades III, IV, and V do, as the results are much more likely to be abnormal.I therefore suggest that this grading system, which could be easily learnt by junior medical staff, would be more appropriate than age as an indicator of the need for biochemical screening preoperatively.