Choosing the right glove is one of the most important things for healthcare, dental, and lab workers today. When selecting an examination glove, we must consider a few things:
- Fit/ Comfort: Your gloves should fit you well and feel comfortably. Latex gloves fit the user hands very well, due to its high level of elasticity and memory. Nitrile gloves vary in softness and flexibility. Some are comfortable and fit well, whereas some are stiff and not flexible. Polyurethane gloves are soft, flexible and exert virtually no strain on the user hands. Vinyl gloves are usually baggy in fit, but are soft and comfortable.
- Protection: You wear gloves for protection. Therefore, choose the gloves that best protect you for the task you are to perform. While working in a high-risk environment where you may be in contact with blood borne pathogens or hazardous substances, wear good quality latex, nitrile or polyurethane exam gloves. Vinyl exam gloves can be used in non-high risk applications.
- Allergy concerns: Latex allergies have become a concern, especially in the healthcare industry. If you are sensitive to latex, avoid all latex products altogether and use only non-latex exam gloves, such as polyurethane, nitrile and vinyl. If you choose to use latex gloves, you should only use powder free latex gloves with reduced protein content.On the other hand, if you suffer from Type IV Chemical Hypersensitivity, switching from latex gloves to non-latex gloves may not alleviate the situation, because these chemicals are added in the process of making all types of gloves including both latex and non-latex.