5 Types of Gloves Used by Medical Professionals

It is essential for health care professionals to wear gloves, to protect both the patient as well as themselves from getting any infection. Also, there are many types of gloves available in the market, but you need to know which gloves are required when? Every type of gloves has a different usage and purpose. The material of the gloves depends on its usage. They need to wear gloves every time they come in contact with blood, bodily fluids, or any broken skin.

As a medical professional, you need to choose your gloves properly that best fits its function. Here are five different types of gloves that a medical professional uses.

1. Nitrile Gloves:

Nitrile gloves are made from synthetic latex, which has no latex proteins. These gloves are more puncture resistant compared to rubber gloves. These have anti-static nature and are good solvent resistant. These are odour free and thus, also used in many other industries like the food and dairy industry. This is an ideal choice for doctors with latex allergies.

These are mainly used in chemistry labs and in other industrial environments where corrosive acids, bases, or any other organic solvents. Medical professionals like doctors, surgeons, dentists, and other professionals like hairdressers, tattoo artists, chemists, automobile mechanics, lab technicians, and many more use this kind of gloves.

These are affordable and provide a higher level of protection and have a long shelf life. It also lasts long and can you can wear it for longer duration.

2. Latex Gloves:

Latex gloves are made from rubber latex. These gloves are flexible and comfortable to wear for a longer duration as well. These are good quality gloves with more durability. These gloves have the best fit thus, surgeons prefer them. Also, these gloves have a high tactile sensitivity to touch. There are two types of latex gloves. First, the powdered latex gloves and secondly, non-powdered latex gloves, which are discussed in detail in the fourth point.

These are not a good choice of gloves for people with latex allergies. Workers who frequently use these gloves develop latex sensitivities and allergies ranging from skin irritation and redness to respiratory problems.

3. Vinyl Gloves:

Vinyl gloves are low cost yet high value gloves. These are made from Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC). These are soft to use and latex free. They are less durable yet a standard barrier for protection. These are comfortable and easy to wear. Therefore, it becomes easy for removal and replacement of gloves in a busy medical, food service or industrial location.

4. Powdered or Non-powdered Gloves:

Powdered gloves are coated with cornstarch, which makes the movement of the fingers in and out of the gloves easy. These often leave some residue which needs to be considered while using it, because it can compromise with sterility of the equipment and surfaces.

Non-powdered gloves or powder-free gloves offer more versatility than powdered gloves because of oil, chemical, and water resistance. These are softer compared to the powdered gloves as it reduces the risk of allergies. However, these are more expensive than the other one.

5. Chemotherapy Gloves:

Chemotherapy gloves are disposable gloves that are used in chemotherapy. It becomes important for the workers to know that using these gloves will help them protect against infections and pathogens.

Chemotherapy gloves help protect the workers from toxic chemicals, and drugs. These gloves must be disposed of with a great care for ensuring safety.

Conclusion:

Gloves are used mainly in the medical industry. Different kinds of gloves have different purposes. You need to know where you can use which type of gloves. Also, you need to make sure that you change the gloves on a regular basis, and it does not have any puncture. Any defect in the gloves is a threat to the professional using it. It may cause acids or other harmful bodily fluids to come in contact with the medical professional and harm their skin. So, you need to choose your gloves wisely.

Paul Clifford is the Owner & CEO of Medguard. He aims to strengthen the healthcare infrastructure of the country by supplying medical devices and consumable products of top-notch quality.