The Use of Single-Use Medical Gloves in Doctors' Practices and Hospitals

Single-use medical gloves achieve their purpose only when properly used. Proper use also helps avoid undesired consequences such as excessive waste and CO2 emissions, as well as inadequate hand hygiene.

In this selective review of the primary scientific literature, we summarize the current state of knowledge on the use of singleuse medical gloves in the health-care sector. We also provide further information from national recommendations, guidelines, and regulatory provisions.

Single-use medical gloves mainly serve to protect the health-care professional and are only rarely meant to promote patient safety. For reasons of occupational safety and self-protection, hand hygiene should be performed after single-use medical gloves are removed. In a study of opened glove boxes, human pathogenic bacteria were detected on around 13% of single-use medical gloves. A meta-analysis found that wearing single-use medical gloves can lower the risk of nosocomial infection (incidence rate ratio, IRR: 0.77 [0.67; 0.89]. In a randomized controlled trial, adherence for putting on single-use medical gloves without prior hand disinfection was 87%. On the other hand, where hand disinfection was expected to be performed before putting on gloves, adherence was 41%. Proper use can lower the rate of occupational skin diseases and improve adherence to hand hygiene for the five moments in which it is recommended (before and after patient contact, before aseptic procedures, after contact with potentially infectious material, and after contact with the immediate patient environment).

Limiting the use of single-use medical gloves to its proper indications promotes the safety of health-care professionals and patients and has beneficial ecological and economic effects as well.