Good glove hygiene

It is important to follow good glove hygiene for the safety of the carer and the resident.

Appropriate hand and glove hygiene is essential in a care setting as hands are the main pathway of germ transmission.

Wearing gloves can:

• Reduce the risk of carers hands being contaminated with blood and other body fluids from the residents
• Reduce the risk of germs spreading to the environment, from the carer to the resident and vice-versa, as well as from one resident to another
• Minimise carers exposure to medicines

COSHH

A Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH) risk assessment should be done for any medicines that need to be handled, including creams and ointments. COSHH Government Website.

This risk assessment is a requirement in the workplace under the Health and Safety Executive government regulations. The assessment will outline any special precautions you will need to take when involved in handling medicines. As a minimum you will be required to wash your hands and wear gloves when administering medicines to residents.

In this step we will outline the steps involved in washing your hands, putting on gloves and removing gloves safely and correctly.

How to correctly wash your hands

Washing your hands should take approximately 40-60 seconds. Here are ten steps you should take when washing your hands. A downloadable PDF of the steps can be found at the bottom of the step.

How to safely don gloves

After washing your hands, you can now follow the next 6 steps to put on your gloves:

How to remove gloves safely

Once you are ready to remove the gloves, follow these 3 steps to avoid contamination:

Now that you are familiar with the correct good hand and glove hygiene, go ahead and practice this at home or in your workplace.