How to safeguard your ring in theatre

doi:10.1136/bmj.a2592

Published 9 December 2008, doi:10.1136/bmj.a2592
Cite this as: BMJ 2008;337:a2592

Feature

Christmas 2008: Professional Considerations

How to safeguard your ring in theatre

A Ardolino, specialist trainee year 2 , T B Crook, specialist registrar , H P Taylor, consultant

¹ Department of Orthopaedics and Trauma, Poole Hospital, Dorset BH15 2JB

Correspondence to: A Ardolino toni.a{at}doctors.org.uk

A Ardolino and colleagues give a way to avoid losing rings duringscrubbing

Finger rings harbour surface bacteria so should be removed beforescrubbing for theatre and left off while operating.¹ There aremany anecdotes of surgeons losing their wedding rings and rootingthrough clinical waste or surgical scrub bins to find the lostitems. We present a method of safeguarding a wedding ring whilein theatre.

Technique

Surgical scrubs are put on in the usual fashion. A single throwis placed in the trouser cord—this is the first half ofa reef knot. The cord on the right is passed over the cord onthe left (fig 1). The wedding ring is then threaded onto oneof the cords (fig 2). The reef knot is completed by passinga throw in the opposite direction, so the cord on the left passesover the cord on the right (fig 3). Figure 3 shows the cordsbefore the knot is tightened to show the reef knot. The weddingring will be held tightly within the reef knot. The reef knotis secured by passing a third throw in the same manner as thefirst (fig 4). The surgeon has the option to add extra throwsif they are deemed necessary.

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Fig 1 Tying the first throw

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Fig 2 Placing the ring

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Fig 3 Tying the second throw

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Fig 4 Securing the reef knot

Discussion

The method presented was tested on 10 colleagues and provedto be reliable, safe, and quick. The ring will not become tarnished,as it could if it were left on during scrubbing, and has nochance of being swept into the waste bin with other items thathave been left on the counter in theatre. It is less likelyto be lost than if it were placed in the pocket of a bag, andthe knot ensures that it will not fall out, as it might if thescrubs pocket were damaged.

Cite this as: BMJ 2008;337:a2592

Competing interests: None declared.

Provenance and peer review: Not commissioned; externally peerreviewed.

References

Kelsall NK, Griggs RK, Bowker KE, Bannister GC. Should finger rings be removed prior to scrubbing for theatre? J Hosp Infect 2006;62:450-2.[CrossRef][Web of Science][Medline]