Gloves
Gloves
- Gloves reduce the risk of pathogen transmission by providing barrier protection. They should be worn whenever handling an animal, or contact with blood, body fluids, secretions, excretions and mucous membranes is possible. Gloves should also be worn when cleaning cages and environmental surfaces, as well as when doing laundry.
- Gloves should be removed promptly after use, avoiding contact between skin and the outer glove surface.
- Gloves should always be worn when touching a potentially contaminated surface.
- Care should be taken to avoid contamination of personal items such as telephones, pens, and pagers.
- When wearing other PPE, gloves should be put on last.
- Insert hands into gloves and extend them over gown cuffs.
To Remove Gloves:
- Grasp outside edge near wrist.
- Peel away from hand, turning glove inside out.
- Hold the removed glove in the opposite gloved hand.
- Slide the ungloved finger under the wrist of the remaining glove.
- Peel off the glove from the inside creating a bag for both gloves.
- Discard the gloves in the appropriate garbage receptacle.
- Hands should be washed or an alcohol-based hand sanitizer should be used immediately after glove removal.
- Gloves do not provide complete protection against hand contamination, therefore hand hygiene immediately after removing gloves is essential.
- Disposable gloves should not be washed and reused.
Change Gloves and Perform Hand Hygiene When:
- Moving from contaminated areas to clean areas on the same animal.
- Moving from dirty to clean procedures on the same animal.
- After contact with large amounts of blood and/or body fluids.
- Between individual animals
Gloves come in a variety of materials. The choice of glove material depends on their intended use. Latex gloves are commonly used, but if latex allergies are a concern, acceptable alternatives include nitrile or vinyl gloves. Latex gloves will decompose and lose their integrity when exposed to many chemicals. Reusable gloves must also be disinfected at the end of each task.
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