Personal Protective Equipment – Using Gloves
Purpose
To guide the use of gloves.
Objectives
To prevent the spread of infection;
To protect wounds from contamination;
To protect hands from potentially infectious material; and
To prevent exposure to the HIV (AIDS) and hepatitis B (HBV) viruses from blood or body fluids.
Equipment and Supplies: Gloves.
Miscellaneous
When gloves are indicated, use disposable single-use gloves.
Discard used gloves into the waste receptacle inside the examination or treatment room.
Use sterile gloves for invasive procedures to prevent contamination of the patient and to decrease the risk of infection when changing dressings.
Use non-sterile gloves primarily to prevent the contamination of the employee’s hands when providing treatment or services to the patient and when cleaning contaminated surfaces.
Wash hands after removing gloves. (Note: Gloves do not replace handwashing.)
Remove gloves before removing the mask and gown and discard them into the designated waste receptacle inside the room.
When to Use Gloves
When touching excretions, secretions, blood, body fluids, mucous membranes, or non-intact skin;
When the employee’s hands have any cuts, scrapes, wounds, chapped skin, dermatitis, etc.;
When cleaning up spills or splashes of blood or body fluids;
When cleaning potentially contaminated items; and
Whenever in doubt.
Procedure Guidelines
Putting on Sterile Gloves
Wash hands.
Obtain gloves. (Note: If gowning procedures are used, put gloves on after putting on the gown so that the cuff of the gloves can be pulled over the sleeve of the gown.)
Open the package. Do not touch the gloves.
With one hand, grasp a glove by the inside of the cuff. Insert the opposite hand into the glove. Leave the cuff turned down.
Pick up the remaining glove with gloved hand. Insert ungloved hand into the second glove.
Pull up cuffs of the glove.
Removing Gloves
Using one hand, pull the cuff down over the opposite hand, turning the glove inside out.
Discard the glove into the designated waste receptacle inside the room.
With the ungloved hand, pull the cuff down over the opposite hand, turning the glove inside out.
Discard the glove into the designated waste receptacle inside the room.
Discard the glove package into a waste receptacle inside the room.
Wash hands.
Reference
State Operations Manual. (2023). Appendix PP: Infection control: F 880