To coincide with World Hand Hygiene Day on 5 May, UHB will be taking part in Glove Awareness Week from 30 April, to raise awareness of skin health and appropriate glove use by nursing staff. 

Glove Awareness Week, which is an initiative launched by the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), aims to highlight when gloves should and shouldn't be worn and how to look after your skin to prevent infection. 

The Infection Prevention and Control team will be visiting all wards at QEHB across the week with the key message of challenging inappropriate glove use and the newly-launched practice of removing glove use for the preparation of IV medication.

Approximately one in five nurses develop hand dermatitis – a painful, debilitating condition which may require nursing staff to be moved out of clinical areas due to the risk of infection from damaged skin. 

Hand dermatitis can be caused by frequent exposure to water, cleaning agents and inappropriate glove use.

Are you glove aware?

Over or under use of gloves can put you and your patients at risk of infection. We use 24 million gloves a year at QEHB, and evidence suggests 40% of glove use is inappropriate.

Types of glove fall into two main categories – examination and protective. It is therefore crucial to carry out a risk assessment to decide whether, and which type of gloves, to wear.

For more information on Glove Awareness Week, visit the RCN’s website at the bottom of this article.