How to Correctly Wear and Use Clean, Sterile, and Autoclavable Class 100 Nitrile Gloves?

Correctly wearing and using clean, sterile, and autoclavable Class 100 nitrile gloves is crucial for ensuring their protective effect and maintaining a sterile environment. The following are the detailed steps and precautions:

Preparation Before Wearing

1. Hand Cleaning

• Before putting on the gloves, it is necessary to thoroughly clean your hands. Use appropriate antibacterial hand sanitizer and carefully wash every part of your hands, including fingers, palms, backs of hands, and wrists, following the six-step handwashing method (rubbing palms together, rubbing the back of one hand with the palm of the other, rubbing between fingers with fingers interlaced, rubbing the fingertips in the palm by bending finger joints, rubbing the thumb in the palm, and rubbing the fingertips in the palm). The handwashing time should be no less than 30 seconds to ensure the removal of dirt, grease, microorganisms, and other impurities on the hands.
• Dry your hands with clean disposable paper towels or sterile towels. Avoid using unclean towels or clothes to dry your hands to prevent recontamination.

2. Gloves Inspection

• Carefully check whether the packaging of the gloves is intact. If the packaging is damaged, torn, or not properly sealed, the gloves may have been contaminated and should not be used.
• Check the expiration date of the gloves. Expired gloves may have problems such as material aging and decreased sterile performance, which will affect the protective effect.
• Confirm whether the model and size of the gloves are suitable for your hand shape. Gloves that are too tight may cause poor blood circulation in the hands, affect the flexibility of operation, and are prone to breakage; gloves that are too loose may slip off or be difficult to hold firmly during the operation.

Methods of Wearing Gloves

1. Opening the Packaging

• In a clean and dry operating environment, carefully open the glove packaging. Avoid touching the inner surface of the packaging because the inner surface is in direct contact with the sterile gloves, to prevent contaminating the gloves with the dirt on your hands.

2. Putting on the First Glove

• Use one hand to pinch the edge of the cuff of the glove (usually the outer surface of the glove) and insert the other hand into the glove. Pay attention to aligning the fingers with the finger cots of the glove, slowly insert the hand completely into the glove, and make sure that the glove fits the hand tightly without wrinkles or air bubbles. During the insertion process, try to avoid the fingers touching the outer surface of the glove to prevent contaminating the glove.

3. Putting on the Second Glove

• The hand already wearing a glove can touch the inner surface of the second glove (usually the folded part of the glove inside the packaging) through the first glove, pick up the second glove and insert the other hand into it.

• Also make sure that the glove fits the hand tightly and the fingers are in the correct position. During this process, the two gloved hands should avoid touching each other to prevent the outer surfaces of the gloves from being contaminated.

4. Adjusting the Position of Gloves

• After putting on both gloves, gently adjust the position of the gloves so that they fit tightly around the wrists without gaps. Meanwhile, check the integrity of the gloves to make sure there are no tears, holes, or other signs of damage. You can check whether the gloves will tear or rupture by bending fingers, making fists, and other actions.

Precautions During Use

1. Operation Specifications

• When using gloves for operations, follow the corresponding operation specifications and sterile principles. For example, in medical surgeries, strictly follow the surgical operation procedures for the transfer of instruments, tissue processing, and other operations; in pharmaceutical or biotechnology laboratories, avoid the gloves from touching non-sterile areas or contaminated items.
• Try to minimize the contact between the gloves and sharp objects, such as scalpels, needles, etc. Although nitrile gloves have certain puncture resistance, sharp objects may still cause the gloves to break. Once it is found that the gloves are damaged, they should be replaced immediately.
• Pay attention to the gripping force of the gloves. When operating delicate items, such as electronic chips, cell culture dishes, etc., control the gripping force appropriately to avoid damaging the items or causing the gloves to break due to excessive force.

2. Prevention of Cross-Contamination

• Different work areas may require different levels of sterile protection. If it is necessary to transfer between different areas, for example, from a clean area to a contaminated area or vice versa, the gloves should be replaced or appropriately sterilized.
• After contacting different samples, reagents, or equipment, if there is a risk of cross-contamination, the gloves should also be replaced in a timely manner. For example, in a medical laboratory, after handling samples containing bacteria, it is necessary to change gloves before contacting sterile cell cultures.

3. Keeping Gloves Clean

• Avoid the gloves from contacting substances that may dirty or contaminate them, such as ink, oil stains, chemical reagents, etc. If the gloves accidentally come into contact with these substances, it should be judged whether the gloves need to be replaced according to the specific situation. For some substances that may affect experiments or operations, such as chemical substances that may affect the quality of drugs during the pharmaceutical process, the gloves must be replaced immediately.

Methods of Removing Gloves

1. Avoiding Contamination

• Before removing the gloves, make sure that the outer surfaces of both hands and gloves have not come into contact with areas that may be contaminated. If the outer surfaces of the gloves have been contaminated, be especially careful during the removal process to prevent the contaminants from touching the skin or the surrounding environment.

2. Correct Removal

• Use one hand to pinch the edge of the cuff of the other glove (near the wrist) and turn the glove inside out from the outside to the inside when taking it off, so that the outer surface of the glove is wrapped inside. The removed glove can be held in the hand.
• Use the hand that has already removed a glove to insert the fingers into the inside (the side that contacts the skin) of the other glove and turn the glove outside in starting from the wrist when taking it off.Again so that the outer surface of the glove is wrapped inside. This wraps both gloves together and reduces the possibility of contamination.
• In this way, the outer surfaces of both gloves can be wrapped together, reducing the possibility of contamination.

3. Subsequent Handling

• Put the removed gloves into the designated medical waste or biohazard waste containers for disposal. If the gloves may have been contaminated by harmful substances, such as in a chemical laboratory or after handling biohazardous materials, they should be disposed of according to the corresponding hazardous waste disposal procedures.
• After removing the gloves, wash your hands again to ensure that there are no residual contaminants on your hands.

Correctly wearing and using clean, sterile, and autoclavable Class 100 nitrile gloves requires strictly following the above steps and precautions, so that the protective function of the gloves can be fully exerted and the sterility and safety of the working environment can be ensured.