International Infection Prevention Week (IIPW) was launched by the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC) [1]. Held annually during the third week of October for 30 years, it draws global attention to the importance of infection prevention. The campaign targets both healthcare professionals and the general public, as every individual can contribute to infection prevention. HARTMANN is once again actively supporting the campaign. Under the theme ‘Conscious use of gloves for infection prevention,’ we are raising awareness that disposable medical gloves and hand hygiene are both essential components of effective infection prevention. What matters is using gloves according to indication and clinical need, while consistently performing hand hygiene at the appropriate moments.
Disposable medical gloves are an integral part of healthcare. They help protect healthcare professionals and patients from potential pathogens and play an important role in infection prevention. Their use should always be based on specific indication and clinical situation. A survey among healthcare professionals in surgical environments highlighted factors that influence glove use in daily practice, including local procedures, workplace culture and individual habits [2]. Promoting a clear understanding of glove indications supports effective infection prevention and helps ensure that disposable medical gloves are used where they provide the greatest benefit for patient and healthcare worker protection.
However, appropriate glove use is only part of the equation. To provide optimal protection for patients and healthcare professionals, gloves must be integrated into a broader infection prevention strategy that includes consistent hand hygiene.
Gloves and proper hand hygiene are complementary measures that work together to provide effective protection for both patients and healthcare professionals. As gloves and hand hygiene serve different but complementary protective functions, guidelines recommend performing hand hygiene before and after glove use to ensure comprehensive protection for both patients and healthcare professionals. [3,4]. Proper donning and doffing techniques, along with correct disposal practices, further support infection prevention efforts and help maintain a safe healthcare environment [5].
Furthermore, disposable medical gloves may already be defective prior to use due to manufacturing errors. According to DIN EN 455, for example, with an Acceptable Quality Level (AQL) of 1.5 and a sample size of 200, this may apply to a maximum of 3.5% of the gloves. This means that up to 7 out of 200 gloves may be defective [6]. HARTMANN gloves, however, have an AQL of 1.0, representing a stricter quality requirement compared to the required standard, and demonstrating that the lower the AQL, the higher the quality standard [7]. Consequently, both high-quality medical gloves and consistent and disinfection are fundamental elements of standard hygiene. When used together and according to recommendations, they provide complementary layers of protection and contribute significantly to infection prevention.
In 2009, the World Health Organization (WHO) published a leaflet defining clear indications for the use of gloves. According to this guidance, gloves are required—among other instances—during contact with blood or mucous membranes, the insertion of vascular access devices, and drawing blood. At the same time, the WHO identifies situations where glove use is not indicated, such as during subcutaneous or intramuscular injections, blood pressure measurements, assisting patients with dressing or undressing, or transporting patients. These clear guidelines support healthcare professionals in selecting the appropriate protective measures for each clinical situation and ensuring that gloves are used wherever they are indicated [8]. As healthcare organizations increasingly balance patient safety with environmental responsibility, innovative solutions can help optimize glove management while maintaining high standards of protection. HARTMANN’s dispensing system, Peha®-soft One, supports efficient glove dispensing, helping healthcare facilities ensure glove availability at the point of care while reducing incorrect dispensing and preventable waste by 10% [9]. In addition, the system's specialized packaging design has been shown to reduce contamination of unused gloves and the box surface around the dispensing aperture, resulting in an 88.9% reduction in glove-related cross-contamination risk [10].
An analysis by Schuster et al. [11] outlines specific recommendations for ecological sustainability in anesthesiology and intensive care medicine. This analysis may an essential component of an environmentally responsible hygiene concept in hospitals and care facilities [11].
Review the recommended indications for glove use and download our poster as a practical aid for your daily clinical routine.
Standard hygiene precautions consist of numerous individual measures; this encompasses not only hand hygiene and glove use but, among others, also surface hygiene and the reprocessing of medical devices. Every correctly implemented measure helps prevent the transmission of pathogens. Infection prevention is often most effective when risks are prevented from arising in the first place — as is the case with sepsis prevention. Many people mistakenly associate sepsis primarily with intensive or emergency care. In fact, sepsis prevention begins much earlier: many infections—often preventable through consistent hygiene measures—can progress to a severe course and develop into sepsis [12, 13]. By consistently applying recommended infection prevention measures, healthcare professionals help break infection chains and make a vital contribution to patient safety. The proper handling of disposable medical gloves is therefore far more than a routine task; it requires expertise and, together with other standard precautions, helps prevent infections and reduce the risk of serious complications, including sepsis.
