Researchers Warn About Hand Hygiene Risks Associated With Exam Gloves

A new study published in Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology reveal that healthcare personnel regularly fail to perform proper hand hygiene before donning gloves, according to a Healio report.

Hand hygiene should always be performed before and after putting on gloves. Gloves should only be worn during certain situations and should never be donned as an alternative to hand hygiene.

Researchers conducted a prospective quantitative and qualitative study in medical-surgical wards and intensive-care units over a four-month period in 2016. According to the findings, hand hygiene compliance was about 75% for wash-in and wash-out opportunities.

Healio notes that the study revealed 45% of those wash-in episodes lacking hand hygiene protocol compliance were performed by registered nurses and 44% of all wash-in episodes lacking compliance were performed by staff wearing gloves.