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to improve user performance. The data presented here may aid 3. Inaba K, Siboni S, Resnick S, et al. Tourniquet use for civilian
in calculating estimated sample sizes needed for future studies. extremity trauma. J Trauma Acute Care Surg. 2015;79:232–237.
The military units or schoolhouses may want to check their 4. El Sayed MJ, Tamim H, Mailhac A, Mann NC. Trends and pre-
glove practices and unwrapping advice among their instruc- dictors of limb tourniquet use by civilian emergency medical ser-
vices in the United States. Prehosp Emerg Care. 2016;30:1–9.
tors to assess the need for a field assessment of user preference, 5. Childers R, Tolentino JC, Leasiolagi J, et al. Tourniquets exposed
and to decide what works best for their setting. Other first to the Afghanistan combat environment have decreased efficacy
aid procedures, like chest seals or airway intubations, may use and increased breakage compared to unexposed tourniquets. Mil
methods similar to ours to check performance in first aid by Med. 2011;176:1400–1403.
glove type. 6. Weppner J, Lang M, Sunday R, Debiasse N. Efficacy of tourni-
quets exposed to the Afghanistan combat environment stored in
individual first aid kits versus on the exterior of plate carriers. Mil
Conclusion Med. 2013;178:334–337.
7. Wisconsin Healthcare Emergency Preparedness Program Coali-
This preliminary study of user performance in unwrapping a tions. https://wilenet.org/html/career/tourniquet/Instructor_Talking
tourniquet from its plastic wrapper when wearing several types _Points.pdf. Accessed 10 March 2017.
of gloves reveals similar results for all glove types tested. The 8. Geng Q, Chen F, Holmér I. The effect of protective gloves on
wrappers conferred no visible protection to tourniquets, and manual dexterity in the cold environments. Int J Occup Saf Er-
gon. 1997;3:15–29.
the environmental photodegradation destroyed the wrappers. 9. Drabek T, Boucek CD, Buffington CW. Wearing the wrong size
latex surgical gloves impairs manual dexterity. J Occup Environ
Funding Hyg. 2010;7:152–155.
This project was funded by the U.S. Army Medical Research 10. Dianat I, Haslegrave CM, Stedmon AW. Methodology for evalu-
and Materiel Command. ating gloves in relation to the effects on hand performance capa-
bilities: a literature review. Ergonomics. 2012;55:1429–1451.
11. Drabek T, Boucek CD, Buffington CW. Wearing ambidextrous
Disclaimer vinyl gloves does not impair manual dexterity. J Occup Environ
The opinions or assertions contained herein are the private Hyg. 2013;10:307–311.
views of the authors and are not to be construed as official or 12. Mylon P, Lewis R, Carré MJ, Martin N. A critical review of glove
reflecting the views of the Department of Defense or U.S. Gov- and hand research with regard to medical glove design. Ergonom-
ernment. The authors are employees of the U.S. Government. ics. 2014;57:116–129.
This work was prepared as part of their official duties and, as 13. Yousif E, Haddad R. Photodegradation and photostabilization of
such, there is no copyright to be transferred. polymers, especially polystyrene: review. Springerplus. 2013;2:398.
14. Wanasekara ND, Chalivendra, V, Calvert P. Effect of accelerated
ultraviolet and thermal exposure on nanoscale mechanical prop-
Disclosures erties of nylon fibers. Polym Eng Sci. 2012;52:2482–2488.
The authors declare no conflicts of interest. 15. Sousa AR, Amorim KLE, Medeiros ES, et al. The combined effect
of photodegradation and stress cracking in polystyrene. Polym
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