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One of the fears of first aid is the fear of infection. This is especially prevalent in today’s world with the outbreak of COVID-19, and people may not solely be wearing gloves during First Aid, but also in everyday life as well. There's lots of different types of gloves, and you might see different colours. But they are quite straightforward to use. Most gloves nowadays are nitrile or vinyl. When putting gloves on, make sure that you have nothing sharp on your hands such as rings or bracelets, as these can break the glove material. Also, check the gloves before putting them on to make sure that there are no holes in them.You can do this by blowing into one and pushing the air in, to see if any air escapes. Should you find a hole, put on a new pair. Put the gloves onto your hands and pull them down to your wrists.Should there be more than one patient on the scene, you must change gloves between patients as the gloves will harbour any infection, and you will just end up passing the infection from one patient to another. So, for each patient, wear a new pair of gloves.When removing gloves, you don’t want to touch any bodily fluids on the gloves, so there is a special way to take gloves off, which is much more careful than when putting gloves on.First of all, pinch one glove on the outside and remove it, turning the glove inside out in the process. What this does is keep any contaminants on the inside.Another good thing about doing this is that if there are any used dressings, tissues or anything that may harbour contamination, you can scrunch it up in your hand before taking the first glove off, and then contain it in the inside-out glove.Once you have taken the first glove off, keep hold of it in your other hand and scrunch it up into the ball of your gloved hand. Then put a non-gloved finger underneath the second glove without touching the outside, and pull the glove fully off, again turning it inside out with the contaminated things on the inside. Finally, you want to dispose of this correctly, which can be in anything such as a biohazard bin, a sanitary bin or securely double bagged in your rubbish.
Gloves have become increasingly common during the COVID-19 outbreak, serving various purposes beyond first aid.
Various types of gloves are available, typically in nitrile or vinyl materials and different colours.
When donning gloves:
Proper removal is crucial:
Adhering to proper glove usage guidelines is essential for containing the spread of infection during the COVID-19 pandemic.