
Benefits of Gloves
Gloves act as a barrier between you and what you are touching. Standard gloves are not sterile, however, they have fewer microscopic organisms on their surface when compared with our hands. To reduce the likelihood of contamination, hand cleansing is required before donning and after doffing a glove. Proper hand hygiene technique for visibly cleaning hands requires 20 seconds of cleaning with hand sanitiser. To effectively cleanse visibly soiled hands, individuals need to wash them with soap and warm water for 40-60 seconds. Regular hand hygiene in combination with glove use greatly reduces the spread of bacteria that naturally live on our skin surface. Click here to view a step-by-step guide to hand cleaning.
Top Tip
Never apply hand sanitiser to a glove; this destroys the integrity of the glove making you more at risk of contamination.
Donning – Putting Gloves on
- Complete hand hygiene – 1 minute hand washing or 20 seconds of hand sanitiser
- Allow hands to air dry
- Holding the glove by the base, slide it onto your hand one at a time, ensuring your fingers are in the correct compartments.
- Avoid touching more than is necessary, each time the gloves become more contaminated
Doffing – Removing Gloves
- To remove gloves hook a finger under the base of the glove
- Pull the glove up and over your hand.
- the glove will be inside-out, containing any contaminants.
- Complete this for each glove and dispose of them correctly.