Perform hand hygiene for at least 20 seconds with alcohol hand rub or soap and water. Ensure hands are completely dry before donning gloves.
It’s easy to overlook basic safety practices that are simple and repetitive. Proper donning and doffing of disposable medical gloves is one of those practices. The key concern is creating a barrier between wearers’ skin and contaminants, pathogens or other hazardous materials. Healthcare workers, for instance, need a barrier between themselves and patients’ blood, skin and contaminated surfaces. However, if gloves are improperly donned, their ability to protect the users can be compromised For this reason, wearers must take the appropriate steps when putting on gloves.
Medical gloves are recommended to be worn for two main reasons:
- To reduce the risk of contamination of health-care workers hands with blood and other body fluids.
- To reduce the risk of germ dissemination to the environment and of transmission from the health- care worker to the patient and vice versa, as well as from one patient to another.
Finding The Right Size
Before gloves can be donned, the most appropriate size must be found. A glove that is too tight is more prone to punctures and tears, and can reduce hand flexibility. A loose fit can lead to wrinkles, which can cause grip issues. Once you have selected the proper sized gloves, inspect them for pinholes or tears before donning. All hand and wrist jewellery should be removed, and hands should be washed before gloves are worn.
STEPS TO DON MEDICAL GLOVES (NON-STERILE)
Touch only a restricted surface of the glove (at the top edge of the cuff) and create an opening.
Insert five fingers into the opening and gently pull the cuff over the wrist.
Take the second glove with the bare hand and touch only a restricted glove surface corresponding to the wrist.
Pull glove cuff towards wrist to cover as much skin as possible and secure glove.
Once gloved, hands should not touch anything else that is not defined by indications and conditions for gloved use.
STEPS TO DOFF MEDICAL GLOVES (NON-STERILE)
Grasp the outer edge of the glove near the wrist with the opposite gloved hand. Ensure skin of forearm does not touch the outer glove surface.
Peel the glove away, turning it inside out.
Hold the glove in the other gloved hand.
Remove the second glove by inserting two ungloved fingers under the glove cuff and peel off the glove.
Remove gloves by rolling it down the hand and turning it into a bag containing both gloves. Discard gloves safely according to your facility’s requirements.
Perform hand hygiene for at least 20 seconds with alcohol hand rub or washing with soap and water.
Recommendations on Glove Use
- In no way does glove use modify or replace the need for hand hygiene with an alcohol-based product or soap and water.
- Gloves should be worn when it can be reasonably anticipated that contact with blood or other body fluids, mucous membranes, non-intact skin or potentially infectious material will occur.
- Remove gloves after caring for a patient. Do not wear the same pair of gloves for the care of more than one patient.
- When wearing gloves, change or remove gloves during patient care if moving from a contaminated body site to another body site (including a mucous membrane, non-intact skin or a medical device within the same patient or the environment).
- The reuse of gloves after reprocessing or decontamination is not recommended.
