Medtrix

Hand gloves whichever form they come in, are basically used to protect the hands from a lot of things. There are different types of hand gloves, but I would like to talk about the “Medical disposable hand gloves”. This post is inspired by the indiscriminate use of medical hand gloves during this pandemic in a bid to protect against the Corona virus.

Medical gloves are defined, by WHO, as disposable gloves used during medical procedures. They were specifically made for use in health care settings and based on their uses, can come in two forms:

1. Examination gloves: which can be sterile or non-sterile.
2. Surgical gloves: which are sterile and have specific thickness, elasticity and strength and are more durable than the examination gloves.

Medical gloves are further designated by the materials used for their production, which could be; nitrile, latex or vinyl.

Why wear gloves

Medical gloves are made for specific occasions. If not, why wear those uncomfortable coverings over your beautiful hands all day? They are recommended to be worn for two main reasons:

1. To reduce the risk of contamination of health-care workers who handle or get in contact with blood and other body fluids from patients.

2. To reduce the risk of germ dissemination to the environment and from the patient to the health care provider and vice versa. It also helps to prevent transmission from one patient to another.

For some other reasons, people in non-health care settings wear medical gloves. The aim is still to reduce risk of contamination and germ dissemination to the environment. You can’t care about contamination of your hands and ignore the health threat you pose to other people.

This it how it works. When you are on gloves, you are comfortable touching things you would normally not touch with your bare hands. You don’t dispose the gloves, you wear it all day contaminating door handles, bus seats, bags, phones, yourself and other people in the process.

When to use gloves

There is no need for people to wear gloves during their essential errands. Gloves become just as dirty as (if not dirtier than) their bare hands. They also provide a false sense of protection to those who wear them and these could perpetuate the spread of diseases (Corona virus for example) even further.

Do you know why using your hand is better? You would care to wash it. Wearing gloves may result in missed opportunities for hand hygiene.
Use gloves only when deemed necessary. The use of gloves when not indicated represents a waste of resources and does not reduce cross-transmission. Wear gloves when contact with blood or other body fluids, mucous membranes, broken skin surface or potentially infectious material is anticipated.

How to use gloves

If you must use gloves, then you have to use it the right way.
The use of contaminated gloves caused by inappropriate storage, and techniques for donning (putting on) and doffing (removing) them, may result in germ transmission.

This image is from the World Health Organisation (WHO) glove use information leaflet and it describes the appropriate way to don and doff gloves.

Hand hygiene after glove disposal, using the method of hand rubbing (with hand sanitizers) or hand washing (with soap and water) should be performed.

Points to Note

Several clinical studies have confirmed the efficacy of gloves in preventing contamination of hands and its help in reducing the transmission of pathogens. But it should be noted that:

• Glove use does not replace hand hygiene action by rubbing with an alcohol-based product (hand sanitizer) or by handwashing with soap and water.
• Complete protection against hand contamination is not provided by gloves. Pathogens may contaminate the wearer’s hands through small defects in gloves or by inappropriate method of doffing gloves.
• Prolonged use of gloves in the absence of considering the need to perform hand hygiene can result in the transmission of germs.
• Hand hygiene by rubbing or washing remains the gold standard to guarantee hand decontamination after glove removal.
• It is important that people are able to differentiate between situations where gloves should be worn and those where their use is not required. Also, they should properly don, remove, and dispose the gloves.
• Petroleum based hand lotions or creams may adversely affect the integrity of latex gloves and their use should be avoided when glove use is anticipated. On the other hand, some alcohol-based handrubs  may interact with residual powder (from the gloves) on hands and may also degrade vinyl gloves.
• Gloves should not be reused even after decontamination or reprocessing.
• Be aware that counterfeit medical and non-medical gloves may be sold in the markets, especially during this period of increased demand.

Stay safe!

Maureen.