Hand hygiene is the most important measure to protect patients, flues, bactria, virus and the environment from microbial contamination. Hand hygiene indications exist regardless of glove use, even if they influence glove wearing. Several studies provide definitive proof that gloves must be removed after care of a single patient and during the care of a patient, when moving from any body site to another such as non intact skin, mucous membrane or invasive medical device within the same patient, and that hand cleansing must be performed after glove removal. The impact of wearing gloves on compliance with hand hygiene policies has not been definitively established, as published studies have yielded contradictory results. One study found that the introduction of gloves increased overall compliance with hand hygiene, but the introduction of isolation precautions did not result in improved compliance.
Whether hand hygiene should be performed before donning non-sterile gloves is an unresolved issue and therefore this moment should not be recommended as an indication for hand hygiene. In this connection, a study found that volunteers did not contaminate the outside of their gloves significantly more often when they did not wash their hands before donning gloves, compared with the level of glove contamination that occurred when they washed their hands first. In addition, gloves should be worn during outbreak situations, as recommended by specific requirements for Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). The broad scope of these recommendations for glove use potentially leads to inevitable, undesirable consequences, such as the misuse and the overuse of gloves; therefore, there is a need to define glove use indications with greater precision.
Medical glove or disposable glove is recommended for two main reasons: 1) to reduce the risk of contaminating hands with blood and other body fluids; 2) to reduce the risk of germ dissemination to the environment and of transmission from the the contaminated or infected body and vice versa, as well as from one patient to another. Single-use (also called disposable) examination gloves, either non-sterile or sterile, are usually made of natural rubber latex or synthetic non-latex materials such as vinyl, nitrile and neoprene (polymers and copolymers of chloroprene). Because of the increasing prevalence of latex sensitivity among flues,bactreia and virus infected patients, the FDA has approved a variety of powdered and powder-free latex gloves with reduced protein contents, as well as synthetic gloves that can be made available by health-care institutions and for general public.
Sterile surgical gloves are required for surgical interventions. Some non-surgical care procedures, such as central vascular catheter insertion, also require surgical glove use. In addition to their sterile properties, these gloves have characteristics of thickness, elasticity and strength that are different from other medical gloves (either sterile or non-sterile). Medical gloves are designed to serve for care purposes only and are not appropriate for housekeeping activities in health-care facilities. Other specific types of gloves are intended for these types of non-care activities.
The use of gloves in situations when their use is not indicated represents a waste of resources without necessarily leading to a reduction of cross-transmission like these days. The wide-ranging recommendations for glove use have led to very frequent and appropriate use in general, far exceeding the frame of real indications and conditions for appropriate glove use that remain poorly understood. Careful attention should be paid to the use of medical gloves according to indications for donning, but also for their removal. Moreover, numerous conditions regulate glove use and are aimed at preventing glove contamination and further consequences. At last, disposable or single use gloves are highly essential product that everyone should use which will offer great protection and can be acted as a life saver.
