Gloves Off!
What is the gloves off project?
The ‘Gloves Off’ project is a research project taking place on two trial wards at John Hunter Hospital to improve hand hygiene and reduce unnecessary non-sterile glove use.
Why are we focusing on glove use?
Evidence in the literature suggests that non-sterile gloves are commonly misused in clinical work, and that healthcare workers are less likely to adhere to hand hygiene practices when wearing non-sterile gloves. Glove overuse then results in increased volumes of avoidable waste being sent to landfill.
What is the scale of non-sterile glove use across Hunter New England Local Health District (HNELHD)?
Non-sterile gloves used annually = ~28.3 million
Gloves sent to landfill = 97 tonnes plus disposal costs
Carbon footprint = equivalent to driving a fuel efficient car around Australia 175 times
What are our project aims?
- Improve hand hygiene compliance
- Improve the confidence and understanding of healthcare staff in performing risk assessments as a component of standard precautions
- Reduce unnecessary use of non-sterile gloves
- Design and deliver a quality improvement package which can be rolled out more widely across our LHD
Gloves Off Rap Video
REFERENCES
- CLINICAL EXCELLENCE COMMISSION INFECTION PREVENTION AND CONTROL PRACTICE HANDBOOK
Infection Prevention and Control Practice Handbook (nsw.gov.au)
- Australian Guidelines for the Prevention and Control of Infection in Healthcare
Australian Guidelines for the Prevention and Control of Infection in Healthcare (nhmrc.gov.au)
- Clinical Educators Guide
- Jamal, H., Lyne, A., Ashley, P., & Duane, B. (2021). Non-sterile examination gloves and sterile surgical gloves: Which are more sustainable? Journal of Hospital Infection, 118, 87–95. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhin.2021.10.001
- Jeffries, S. D., Tu, Z., Xu, H., Harutyunyan, R., & Hemmerling, T. M. (2023). Use of hand sanitiser as a potential substitution for nonsterile gloves in reducing carbon emissions. British Journal of Anaesthesia, 131(1). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bja.2023.03.029
Project officer: Tina Wilkie - Speech Pathologist & Ministry of Health Allied Health Net Zero Lead Tina.Wilkie@health.nsw.gov.au
Infection Prevention Service: Patricia Knight - Clinical Nurse Consultant patricia.knight@health.nsw.gov.au
Sustainability Project Officer: Amy Bernotas - HNELHD Sustainability Project officer Amy.Bernotas@health.nsw.gov.au
If you have any questions relating to the expansion of this project across the district or other future projects please don’t hesitate to contact the HNELHD Sustainability Project Team at HNELHD-SustainableHealthcare2030@health.nsw.gov.au
For HNELHD staff who want to get involved:
