Gloves, the Misunderstood Component of Hand Hygiene When most of us think of hand hygiene, soaps and alcohol-based sanitizers spring to mind, but gloves shouldn't be overlooked as a key component of preventing the spread of infection. It's tempting to think that once you slip on a glove, your hands are protected. It's important to remember, however, that even if your hands are clean inside a glove, the outside of the glove is still touching potentially contaminated surfaces and you could then spread those germs to residents. According to the Guideline for Hand Hygiene in Health-Care Settings, produced by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), studies have shown that healthcare workers can contaminate their gloves simply by touching inanimate objects in resident rooms.1 The guideline also notes that failure to remove gloves after resident contact or between "dirty" and "clean" body-site care on the same resident should be regarded as nonadherence to hand hygiene recommendations. The CDC makes the following recommendations regarding gloves as a component of hand hygiene1: Wear gloves when contact with blood or other potentially infectious materials, mucous membranes and nonintact skin could occur. Remove gloves after caring for a resident. Do not wear the same pair of gloves for the care of more than one resident, and do not wash gloves between uses with different residents. Change gloves during resident care if moving from a contaminated body site to a clean body site. Hands should be washed or decontaminated after gloves are removed. Professional Medical stocks a complete line of gloves and other hand hygiene products and our knowledgeable team is ready to help you evaluate your facility’s infection prevention practices. To learn more, give us a call at (800) 648-5190 or click the link above. Reference 1 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Guideline for Hand Hygiene in Health-Care Settings. Available at: http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/PDF/rr/rr5116.pdf. Accessed March 27, 2013.

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Embrace™ Nitrile Gloves provide the comfort, fit and sensitivity of latex gloves – with the peace of mind that comes with nitrile. Now it’s possible to protect your residents and staff from the health risks and expenses associated with latex allergies without sacrificing performance. Additional features: Eliminate reactions to latex proteins and other conditions associated with latex glove use Superior tensile strength Guard against hand fatigue Resistant to chemicals and unrivaled against blood-borne pathogens and other body fluids Powder free Textured Ambidextrous Non-sterile Single use only

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