Double Gloving

The quality of a glove is extremely important as it provides a first line of defense against harmful microorganisms. While a high-quality glove is available in the market, sometimes those of less quality are purchased and worn unknowingly. Check out our article on how to choose the right glove for the proper protection.

The hands of a health care worker are usually the most contaminated, leaving gloves covered with a variety of microorganisms. Doffing personal protective equipment (PPE) can result in the transfer and spread of these microorganisms to clothing, surfaces and potentially the face.

A study by Casanova et al., used bacteriophages to compare the frequency and quantity of a virus transfer to hands and clothes to determine if double-gloving reduced this spread. The conclusion was that double-gloving resulted in a significantly less transfer of bacteriophages to participants’ hands versus single-gloving.

Many organizations such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Public Health Ontario (PHO) have recommended double-gloving to create a safer working environment. Perforation and puncture rates and needlestick injuries have been some of the reasons for the recommendation.  That’s why high-quality gloves and puncture resistant gloves are vital to the PPE of a healthcare workers, like the Aurelia glove Ignite.

One of the most important considerations in double-gloving among regulated healthcare professionals is taking universal precautions, which is described as the standard that is applied to each patient/client during all times.  This is especially important as complete medical history may not be disclosed or can even be unknown. Therefore, if you double-glove with one patient or client, you should double-glove with all, regardless of race, gender, diagnosis or under isolation for a specific disease.