Examination gloves are mostly used during medical examinations and procedures. They act as a physical barrier that prevents any pathogen from transmitting between individuals. During the ongoing pandemic, many people choose to wear gloves to prevent making direct contact with the virus and get infected.
However, not everyone knows to remove gloves properly. Without proper removal, bacteria and viruses will end up transferring to your hands contaminating the surroundings. Therefore, learning proper ways to remove gloves is crucial, especially in this turbulent time.
In this article, we will provide step by step explanation on how to properly remove gloves based on the documents published by The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, also known as CDC, about the removal of gloves.
In short, to properly take off gloves, you need to carefully pull one glove inside out, hold it in the other hand, pull the other glove inside out and wrap it around the old one. Also, we will give you some pro tips on eliminating the risk of contamination. Dive in!
Table of Contents
What You Will Need
All you need to follow this tutorial on removing gloves correctly, of course, are your gloves and your hands. Also, prepare hand soap.
Your gloves
Medical gloves are easy to find in a local drugstore or on Amazon. Keep in mind these tips when you purchase them.
- Durability and strength: Since medical gloves act as physical barriers to eliminate the risk of bacteria transmission, they must not tear to split. Gloves made of nitrile and latex are more elastic than vinyl. However, latex gloves can cause allergies if you are allergic to natural rubber.
- Snug fit: Medical gloves should fit your hand snugly. If they are tight, they can easily tear apart when you do too much hand movement. If they are loose, you can’t carry out meticulous tasks with them. Take your time to research medical gloves’ sizes before purchasing.
- Protection level: We wear gloves to protect ourselves from bacteria, but not all gloves offer an equal level of protection. Latex and nitrile gloves are said to have better biological barrier properties. While more cost-effective, vinyl gloves provide less protection as they are not as stretchy and durable as the others. If you only have access to vinyl gloves, you can double the protection by wearing two pairs when necessary.
Before putting on gloves, make sure your hands are clean and dry. Also, cover scratches or scrapes on your hands with bandages.
Hand soap
You can choose a traditional bar soap or a bottle of liquid hand soap. Usually, liquid hand cleaners are less skin-drying than bar soaps. But they both serve very well the purpose of scrubbing dirt, bacteria, and pathogens off the skin. To wash your hands, antibacterial soaps are preferred.
You will need hand soap to wash your hands thoroughly after removing the gloves.
Steps on How to Properly Remove Gloves
Step 1: Take off medical gloves
A proper glove removal technique ensures the gloves won’t contaminate any other surface. According to the guide of CDC on the removal of gloves, here are the five steps you should take:
- Never touch your bare skin with used gloves. Pull the outside of one glove at the wrist.
- Peel the glove inside out in the direction away from you. It is to prevent the gloves from making contact with your skin.
If your gloves are too tight, it will be very difficult to invert them. Therefore, only wear medical gloves that are the right size for you.
- Hold the glove you peeled off with your gloved hand.
- To remove the second glove, slide your fingers inside that glove.
- Turn that glove inside out in the direction that is away from you. Then, wrap the other glove in it.
Step 2: Disposing of the gloves
To dispose of used gloves safely, put them in a trash can right after taking them off.
Step 3: Wash your hands
After taking off medical gloves and getting rid of them safely, you should immediately wash your hands as medical gloves might have tiny pinholes on them. Follow these five steps:
- Wet your hands with water (both cold and warm water are fine), but preferably running clean water, which means no sediment or residue in it.
- Apply soap and rub your hands against each other. Make sure the soap covers your fingers, the back of your hands, and especially under your nails.
- You must rub your hands for at least 20 seconds.
- Put your hands under clean running water and wash them thoroughly.
- With a clean towel, dry your hands. You can also air dry them.
If you don’t have soap and water, a hand sanitizer is an excellent replacement. However, keep in mind that hand sanitizers cannot remove all kinds of bacteria or harmful chemicals. Follow these steps whenever you have to use hand sanitizers:
- Apply the right amount of product on the palm of one hand.
- Gently rub your hands together, make sure you get to the fingertips and under the nails.
- You should rub for at least 20 seconds.
Conclusion
In conclusion, using medical-related products should never be taken lightly. Taking off medical gloves the wrong way may ruin their protection function and turn them into a source of contamination. To eliminate all risks, you must always strictly follow these steps each time you wear medical gloves.
Taking the gloves off properly but disposing of them in the wrong place might cause contamination to other surfaces. Save this article so you can always refer to it in the future and wear medical gloves optimally.
If you found our article on how to properly remove gloves helpful, don’t hesitate to share it to the people around you. In such a turbulent time like this, people need this information more than ever. Also, leave your thoughts in the comment section. We look forward to hearing from you.
Having worked in the field of personal protective equipment for over two decades, Andrew Carnegie is a specialist in the field.
At EDC, he strives to improve performance efficiency and promote workplace safety for EDC’s readers and customers. He also researches the most up-to-date equipment that has earned relevant accreditation for use in a wide range of industries and specialties.