While it is important to have occupational health and safety (OHS) policies and practices in place, it is often the PPE that acts as the first line of defence against injury. Personal protective equipment (PPE) is arguably the most important in the health and safety industry as it protects employees against injuries when an incident does occur.
Disposable gloves are essential for practitioners to use their day-to-day procedures and is key during routine patient exams. Disposable gloves are designed to protect their hands against deadly diseases, bacteria, infections, and other pathogens. It is essential for medical personnel to know the right size of exam gloves to use at work.
Disposable nitrile/latex gloves should wrap your hands comfortably. It should be snug without feeling like your movements are restricted. A good way to tell if the gloves are a good fit is that it should feel like a second skin. You should be able to move your fingers and flex with ease without over-stretching the gloves too much. The goal is to find the right size for the width of your palm as well as the length of your fingers.
Reminder: Disposable Nitrile/Latex gloves are designed to allow complete movement and dexterity for you to perform the same tasks as you could with bare hands.
It is more apparent to detect when gloves are too big. The disposable gloves itself would not have to stretch in order to fit hands inside. There will be noticeable wrinkles around the palm area and the fingertips would not reach the ends of the glove tips, leaving a sizeable amount of material dangling at the end of each finger. There would also be excess material bunch up around the wrist area. This can also be distracting to the wearer.
When the gloves fit too large, they do not provide adequate protection to the wearer against infection control as there would not be a snug seal between the glove and the skin on your hands. This would lead to a higher chance of contaminants entering the glove during procedures.
The difference between a well-fitting glove and a glove that fits too tight is quite slim, the signs are not as apparent than when gloves are too large. Unlike larger gloves, when wearing gloves that are too small, it is all in the feel of the gloves when it is worn on your hands. These are the few things to keep in mind when determining if the gloves selected are too small.
If the gloves had to be significantly stretched for hands to fit inside, it is likely to be too small. The glove tips would be pressed against the wearers’ fingers and may lead to increased risk of glove puncture from fingernails. This would lead to placing the wearer at undue risk for exposure to contaminants. When gloves are too tight, it may restrict movements of the hands and fingers feel stifled by the glove. Wearers may also feel a lack of grip caused by the gloves and reach hand muscle fatigue more quickly. The grip around the wrist feels tight and the pressure may leave an indentation on your wrist and cuts of blood circulation to the hands.
The fit of your exam gloves can affect your job performance. It’s important to wear the properly sized exam glove that fits your hand, proper glove sizing is vital. Check out Mun’s sizing chart for examination glove and surgical glove range before you order.
