Removing medical gloves safely means keeping the contaminated outer surface from ever touching your bare skin. The technique takes about 10 seconds once you know it, but getting it wrong is surprisingly common. A study of 152 doffing attempts found that faulty removal led to self-contamination 28% of the time, with the arms, abdomen, and lower limbs being the most frequently affected areas.
The Five Steps of Proper Glove Removal
The CDC outlines a specific sequence designed around one core principle: glove touches glove, then skin touches skin. Here’s how it works.
First, pinch the outside of one glove at the wrist. This is the only spot where you can get a good grip without pulling the material tight against your fingers. Do not touch your bare skin. Peel that glove away from your body, turning it inside out as it comes off. The contaminated surface is now folded inward.
Hold the removed glove in your still-gloved hand, balling it up in your palm. Now slide two fingers of your bare hand under the wrist of the remaining glove, touching only the clean inner surface. Peel this second glove off by rolling it down and away from your body, turning it inside out as you go. The first glove ends up neatly contained inside the second, creating a small package with all contaminated surfaces sealed inside.
Why the Order Matters
The whole technique hinges on which surfaces contact which. During the first glove removal, your other hand is still gloved, so it’s safe for glove to touch glove (both outer surfaces are already contaminated). For the second glove, your bare fingers only touch the inside of the remaining glove, which has been against your clean skin the entire time. Skin touches skin. If you accidentally grab the outside of the second glove with your bare fingers, you’ve defeated the purpose entirely.
The randomized cross-over study that found a 28% contamination rate also showed that when germs were concentrated on the upper body portions of protective equipment, the risk of self-contamination during removal was 2.39 times higher. In nearly half of the contaminated doffings, the person picked up germs in more than one location on their body. These weren’t careless people. They simply hadn’t practiced enough or rushed through the steps.
Where Glove Removal Fits in Full PPE
If you’re wearing a gown, mask, and gloves together, gloves come off first. The CDC’s recommended doffing sequence is: gloves, then gown, then mask, then hand hygiene. This order exists because gloves are the most contaminated item and the one most likely to transfer pathogens to other surfaces. Getting them off first reduces the chance of spreading contamination to your gown ties, mask straps, or face while removing the rest.
Hand Hygiene After Removal
Your hands are not clean just because you wore gloves. The World Health Organization is clear on this point: glove use does not replace hand hygiene. Immediately after removing your gloves, wash your hands with soap and water or use an alcohol-based hand rub. Microscopic perforations in gloves are more common than most people realize, and bacteria can multiply in the warm, moist environment inside a glove during use. Even a properly removed pair of gloves can leave trace contamination behind.
What to Do if a Glove Tears
If you notice a rip or puncture while you’re still working, stop what you’re doing, remove both gloves using the technique above, wash your hands, and put on a fresh pair. Don’t try to finish a task with a compromised glove. In surgical settings, many organizations recommend wearing two layers of gloves so that a tear in the outer glove still leaves a barrier in place. This practice is underused in routine care but particularly important during long procedures or any task involving blood or sharp instruments.
Disposing of Used Gloves
Where your gloves go after removal depends on what they contacted. Under OSHA’s bloodborne pathogen standards, gloves contaminated with blood or other potentially infectious materials that would release those materials if compressed qualify as regulated waste. These need to go into labeled, color-coded biohazard containers that seal closed. Gloves used for routine tasks without visible blood or infectious material can typically go into standard waste bins. When in doubt, use the biohazard container. The key rule: place removed gloves in an appropriately designated container immediately. Don’t set them on a counter or carry them across a room.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Snapping gloves off by the fingertips. This flings the contaminated surface outward, potentially aerosolizing whatever was on the glove. Always peel from the wrist down.
- Touching the outside of the second glove with bare skin. This is the single most common point of failure. Your bare fingers go under the cuff, not over it.
- Skipping hand hygiene. CDC research on doffing errors consistently identifies hand hygiene as one of the riskiest steps, not because washing is hard, but because people forget or rush past it.
- Removing gloves after the gown. If you pull off your gown first while still wearing contaminated gloves, you’re dragging those gloves across your arms and clothing.
The technique is simple enough to learn in a few minutes but takes deliberate practice to make automatic. Try it a few times with a clean pair of gloves, focusing on the wrist-pinch for the first glove and the finger-slide for the second. Once the muscle memory is there, you won’t have to think through each step.