Approximately 1,000 health care workers develop work-related contact dermatitis of the hands – a painful, debilitating condition which may require nursing staff to be moved out of clinical areas due to the risk of infection.
Work-related contact dermatitis can be caused by frequent exposure to water, cleaning agents and inappropriate glove use.
Over or under use of gloves can put you at risk of work-related contact dermatitis. Inappropriate glove use can also prevent effective hand hygiene and can put your patient at risk of infection.
Before carrying out a task it's important to carry out a risk assessment to decide whether a glove is required, and if so, which type of glove is needed.
It's important to remember that gloves are single use items - they must be removed and changed between each patient or care task.
Throughout the week we held live and online events to discuss best practice around glove use, and shared free resources for our members to spread the word in their workplaces. Check out the highlights below.
