Don’t use disposable gloves when standard hand hygiene disinfection practices are safe and sufficient.

In pharmacy settings, when the risk of body fluids exposure and infection transmission is low, maintaining safety standards in most routine healthcare interactions can most often be achieved by using proper hand hygiene without additional precautions. Do not use gloves in place of hand hygiene or when hand hygiene alone is sufficient. The pharmacy staff should reserve the use of gloves to situations in which the safeguard of pharmacy staff is required due to risk of infection, or to comply with infection prevention and control (IPAC) and National Association of Pharmacy Regulatory Authorities (NAPRA) standards and/or guidelines. Refraining from using latex or nitrile gloves when not medically necessary is an important aspect of environmental stewardship to be considered by healthcare professionals. Minimizing the use of gloves can help reduce environmental waste associated with disposable medical supplies, contributing to sustainability efforts in healthcare facilities. Approximately 500 boxes of gloves were found to emit 2 tonnes of CO2 emissions. Limiting the use of gloves is highly effective in promoting environmental sustainability.