If you work in healthcare at all, you have no doubt encountered the ever-present disposable glove. Many put them on without a thought to whether they are truly necessary, despite the large role they fill in single-use disposables in healthcare waste.

Take nursing as an example. Many nursing students are taught to don gloves when preparing medications for patients. Why? There are a few instances when gloves are appropriate, such as handling medications such as nitropaste that are absorbed through the skin, but there is no reason to use them with routine medication preparation. In fact, using gloves outside patients’ rooms is not encouraged, as it can make practitioners walk into the room with the gloves on instead of doing hand hygiene!

Gloves used while doing a physical assessment are likewise unnecessary unless the patient has wounds or is in isolation. The power of touch is so important in nursing care–but wearing gloves when holding a patient’s hand can make the patient feel that they are contaminated in some way.

So the next time you go to don gloves–unrecyclable gloves–stop for a moment and consider whether you truly need them.