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MEDICAL GLOVE DONNING AND DOFFING BEST PRACTICE

Sterile surgical gloves, your first line of defence, act as a barrier and play a critical role in essential infection prevention and control in the operating room. To maintain asepsis when donning sterile gloves, the Australian College of Perioperative Nurses (ACORN) Standards of Perioperative Nursing in Australia1 recommend the ‘closed donning’ method as best practice. There are two ways closed donning can be performed:


Closed Assisted-Donning

In this technique, scrub personnel hold the glove cuff open for the surgeon to insert hands, ensuring the surgeon's fingers remain inside the sleeves of the gown. Only the gown cuff should touch the inside of the glove cuff to eliminate a breach in sterility during the gloving procedure.

Closed Self-Donning

In this technique, scrub personnel don their own gloves, ensuring fingers remain inside the sleeves of the gown to eliminate a breach in sterility during the gloving procedure.

Scan for your Glove Size

Before donning gloves, it is important to recognise that as a first layer of defence, examination and surgical gloves are most effective when they fit well. If gloves are too tight, dexterity is limited and could tear during use. If they are too loose, gloves can get in the way when doing tasks and do a poor job of keeping out potential pathogens.

To find out your glove size, scan your hand below:

Disposable Hand Size Guide QR code

Examination Hand Size Guide

Surgical Hand Size Guide QR code

Surgical Hand Size Guide

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1. Australian College of Operating Room Nurses. Standards for Perioperative Nursing in Australia 16th Edition (2020).

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