Proper hand hygiene reduces the skin microbial population, representing the basic measure to ensure hand decontamination. In healthcare settings, non-sterile disposable gloves – or “gloves” – do not replace hand hygiene, as they have different functions. In fact, gloves reduce the probability of microorganism transmission from healthcare workers to patients (“patient protection”); constitute a barrier to prevent hands contamination of healthcare workers in case of contact with blood, biological materials, and devices or contaminated surfaces (“healthcare workers protection”).
However, gloves do not provide complete protection against hand contamination. Indeed, microorganisms can reach the hands of healthcare workers through small defects in the gloves or hands contamination during their removal.
The use of gloves can lead to a failure of hand hygiene practices. In the latter case, several studies report a significant reduction of proper hand hygiene, especially if the use of gloves is incorrect, suggesting that their inappropriate use can be a component of poor hand hygiene compliance.
Once removed, gloves must not be reused even after decontamination. Compared to social and antiseptic handwashing, alcohol-based hand rubs increase healthcare workers adherence to routinely hand hygiene.

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