Evaluation of Glove Performance after Decontamination.

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Infection Control
• Materials Science in Medical Devices

Background:

• Self-contamination during doffing of personal protective equipment (PPE), particularly gloves, is a known issue.
• Pathogenic organisms like Ebola virus and Clostridium difficile pose significant health risks if spread through contaminated gloves.

Purpose of the Study:

• To establish a testing framework for evaluating the compatibility of decontamination methods with different medical glove types and materials.
• To assess the impact of various decontamination agents on the barrier performance of medical gloves.

Main Methods:

• Four decontamination methods were tested: commercial hand soap, alcohol-based hand sanitizer, commercial bleach, and quaternary ammonium solution.
• Barrier performance was evaluated using ASTM D5151-19, the Standard Test Method for Detection of Holes in Medical Gloves.

Main Results:

• The effectiveness of decontamination methods varied significantly based on glove material composition.
• Surgical gloves generally maintained better barrier performance post-treatment compared to patient examination gloves.
• Vinyl examination gloves exhibited particularly poor performance after decontamination treatment.

Conclusions:

• Glove material is a critical factor in determining the suitability of decontamination methods.
• Further research is needed to validate these findings with larger sample sizes for statistical significance.