Biggest Risk Factor In Medical Examination Gloves

By Author: Michale Horton
Total Articles: 94
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There has been a surge in the medical fields over the traditional latex examination gloves. There has been a gradual rise in latex allergies, forcing manufacturing companies to deliver a non-latex counterpart that still carries the same properties.

In 1999, Rego and Roley completed a study to test different types of examination glove materials to see which had the strongest glove stress, and the effectiveness of the barrier the gloves provide. The study used over five thousand different examination gloves; consisting of nitrile, latex, copolymer and vinyl. The gloves were equally split into two different groups, stressed and unstressed. The stressed gloves, from all makes, were handled and used per the protocol of latex gloves to test their wear and tear. From there, they were visually inspected before going through the Food and Drug Administration’s water testing. The unstressed gloves were not handled, rather just used for the purpose of the Food and Drug Administration water testing standards.

The results were quite staggering, and concluded that latex may not be the safest choice for medical examination ...
... gloves. The latex gloves had a fail rate of 2.2%, which is a strong rate, but when it comes to them being used in practice, as veterinary supplies or dental supplies, makes a 2.2% failure rate seem pretty high. Doctors and dentists alike go through hundreds if not thousands of medical examination gloves each and every day. A 2.2% means that each day there are going to be gloves that do not pass the test, and could leave the examiner in an unfortunate situation.

Vinyl and copolymer gloves were much worse, each having a failure rate of 8.2%. That is completely unacceptable and should not be considered when trying to decide which medical examination gloves to purchase.

Luckily, the nitrile gloves proved to be the most outstanding. They had the lowest failure rate at 1.3%, which is a much safer number than for the latex gloves. While this is a step in the right direction, for hospitals that thousands of examination gloves each and every day, that is exposing a lot of examiners to harsh body fluids or worse. The nitrile gloves also performed better through the stress tests. These tests were derived to test the hold and strength within the glove.

The healthcare professionals do put their lives on the line every day they go into work. It may not seem as such, but think of all of the diseases and ill health they see each and every day. Doctors have the potential to come across an HIV/Aids patient, or another with Hepatitis. The disease can be spread by the simple touch of blood getting into the doctor’s bloodstream. It turns a simple exam into a very tactical approach. Dental supplies are just as important, as they can face the same harsh factors within everyone’s mouth, and one small drop of blood can spill disaster for everyone involved. The health professionals deserve to have tested and true protection from the ailments they face. In addition, the veterinary supplies and demands to handle animals are just as important as working with humans.

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