Which surgeon is credited with promoting glove use in surgery?

• A. William Halsted
• B. Berkeley Moyniham
• C. Gustav Neuber
• D. Joseph Lister

Answer: (A)

Glove use in surgery became a standard part of protecting both patient and staff as surgeons pushed forward with aseptic practice. William Halsted is the figure most closely associated with promoting gloves in the operating room. He began wearing sterile gloves after his scrub nurse, Caroline Hampton, developed dermatitis from the carbolic acid antiseptic, and he chose to wear gloves himself to protect her and the patient. Seeing the gloves used in a real operation helped establish them as a normal part of surgical protocol, not just a precaution. This change fit into the broader shift toward making the entire surgical environment more sterile, a movement also advanced by others who emphasized antisepsis and asepsis. While Neuber, Lister, and Moynihan were influential in related improvements to surgical hygiene and technique, Halsted is the one most credited with popularizing the use of gloves in surgery.