Clinical Skills - Nursing Flashcards
This article demonstrates how to put on sterile gloves. The Clinical Skills video series follows along with our Clinical Nursing Skills Flashcards, which provide step-by-step instructions and best practices for most skills used by practicing nurses and for the skills tested by most nursing schools during the laboratory portion of fundamentals.
How to put on sterile gloves
Sterile gloving can feel a little bit overwhelming at first, so here is a step-by-step explanation of how to don sterile gloves safely. Note that sterile gloves are dependent on size, and sometimes it takes a little trial and error to find the size that is right for you.
1. Remove jewelry and perform hand hygiene
To prepare for sterile gloving, have a pack of sterile gloves at the ready, remove all jewelry, and perform hand hygiene.
Also note that it is good practice to stand a little back from the surface where you have placed the sterile glove packaging — this will help you maintain enough distance so as not to accidentally touch a non-sterile surface, which would render that set of gloves unusable.
2. Open the outer packaging and discard
Next, open the outer packaging and discard it. Remove the sterile glove packaging inside. Place the sterile glove packaging on a solid surface that is at least waist height and that is clean.
3. Open the inner wrapper without touching the gloves or the inside of the wrapper
Now open the sterile glove packaging. Note that it opens like a book. First, unfold the top and bottom flaps and crease them so they stay open. Then pull on the side flaps to pull the wrapper open. Sometimes you have to pull hard. Note again to crease down the middle of the package. This helps the package stay open, because sometimes it is prone to close back in on itself.
4. Pick up the dominant hand’s glove by touching only the rolled cuff
Next, take your nondominant hand and pick up the dominant hand's glove by the rolled cuff. Remember: only touch the rolled cuff portion of a sterile glove.
5. Pull the glove onto your dominant hand, only touching the inside of the glove
To pull the glove onto your dominant hand, hold it fairly high, because as you put on a sterile glove, you do not want the fingers to graze against the surface of the table or anything else.
6. Pull the other glove onto your nondominant hand
Now that the dominant hand is in the sterile glove, use the fingers of that (dominant) hand to scoop up under the cuff of the nondominant hand's gloves. To do this, scoop up into the cuff, keeping your thumb out, and put your nondominant hand into the glove and roll it down.
Note that if rolling occurs on the cuff, you cannot unroll the glove, because that rolled part has now touched your skin, and is no longer sterile. You just have to carry on with that roll in the cuff.
Finally, stand still with your fingers interlaced until you are ready to perform the sterile procedure. This is to help withstand the urge to use your hands and accidentally touch something that is non-sterile — moving your hair or touching something nearby, for example. If you did that, you would have to start the process all over again.