Time to Hang Up the Gloves: A Scoping Review of Evidence on Non-Sterile Glove Use During Intravenous Antimicrobial Preparation and Administration.
Natasya Raja Azlan, Debbie Massey, Lesley Andrew and 8 others
PMID 40999763WHAT IT FOUND
No direct evidence was found for or against wearing non-sterile gloves while preparing or giving IV antimicrobials.
Existing policies and textbooks often recommend them without primary research.
Key findings
01No included study directly provided primary evidence on non-sterile glove use during IV antimicrobial preparation or administration.
02One included audit found 165 of 278 procedures involving non-sterile gloves were inappropriate.
03In that audit, nurses were significantly less likely than allied health professionals to clean hands after glove removal.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
No included study directly addressed non-sterile glove use during IV antimicrobial preparation or administration, so the review cannot answer whether gloves help or harm in that task. Only three studies were included, and their quality varied; one was a single nurse case study. Two included studies were about general glove use or a glove-reduction programme, not IV antimicrobials. Non-English studies were excluded, so relevant evidence from other languages may be missing.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that non-sterile gloves are unnecessary or unsafe for IV antimicrobial preparation or administration. The review found no direct evidence either way, and the included studies did not test this specific task.