Medical Grade Disposable Gloves in Latex for the Mortuary Profession
Exam latex gloves and Latex powder free exam protective gloves are a necessity for those in the funeral and embalming business. However, understanding the proper use of these gloves and the possible risks associated with overusing latex is important for the protection of your staff’s health and safety.
What are Latex Gloves?
These are one type of gloves available for use in the mortuary profession. They are worn on the hands to prevent direct contact with body fluids or the subjects on which they are working.
Direct contact could be dangerous and should be avoided. Unfortunately, not all workers can wear latex gloves because of allergies and skin irritation problems.
Another potential problem with latex gloves is they degrade relatively quickly under working conditions and need to be replaced frequently in order to maintain their protective value. Additionally, the cornstarch added as a lubricant to the gloves can exacerbate allergic reactions.
How Can I/We Use latex Gloves?
As mentioned above, powdered latex exam gloves-small and non latex gloves are used for personal protection, while working.
There are a number of times when gloves must be worn by the staff, including when they are handling bodies and are likely to have direct contact with blood or other bodily fluids.
When spills of blood or body fluids need to be cleaned up, medical gloves should also be worn. Gloves should also be worn during invasive procedures, while handling equipment or supplies that had contact with the body, and when disposing of clinical waste.
Despite these important uses, small latex gloves can pose some problems. While allergic dermatitis is one of the most common problems, even people without known allergies to latex can develop skin problems from prolonged use because of the gloves trap moisture against the skin.
Problems with these reactions can be relatively mild but annoying, such as redness and itching with the possible development of blisters to more serious effects, including anaphylaxis.
Unfortunately, wearing latex is not durable. Most medical facilities recommend re-gloving every 30 seconds, because the gloves deteriorate and increase the wearer’s exposure risk.
If you are embalming and wearing latex gloves, chances are your skin has had a greater exposure to the chemicals of the trade than you might have imagined.
Medical Grade Disposable Gloves in Latex
While the above has explained many of the drawbacks of using latex gloves, the gloves do have their benefits. First, they are inexpensive.
Alternative types of gloves do tend to cost two to three times as much, incomparison. However, the added expense could be mitigated because fewer gloves are needed and because the alternatives add greater protection from chemicals and less risk of skin reactions.
Latex gloves do offer protection against the many dangers your staff is likely to encounter while handling body preparation.
They are certainly a more desirable option than wearing no gloves at all! However, alternative gloves do offer greater protection and should be considered.
A Short History of Medical Gloves
Medical grade disposable gloves have been around for more than four decades. They were first manufactured in 1964 by a company based in Melbourne, Australia.
However, they only went into wide use a few decades ago in the medical industry as concern about contact with infectious material increased dramatically.
Latex gloves are the most common variety. However, the newer types of latex-alternatives, such as synthetic nitrile rubber gloves have become more popular in recent years.
Today, these gloves are also available in a variety of colors, including blue, purple, black, and flesh color.
Latex Medical Gloves - Summary
While latex gloves are definitely a common sight in most funeral homes, they do provide an excellent number of benefits.
They are also associated with a high risk of allergic reactions to the latex and degrade more quickly in contact with the chemicals associated with embalming.
The cornstarch used inside the latex gloves can also increase the harmful effects of the latex.
For these reasons, nitrile rubber and powder-free medical gloves are becoming more popular, despite their higher costs.
Many in the medical fields recognize that the benefit of more durable gloves and fewer health problems definitely outweigh the higher price tag.
Regardless of the type of glove being used, disposable medical gloves offer protection from contact with a number of dangerous parts of the human body, including fluids and blood.
Using these medical gloves should be standard practice for any practitioners coming in contact with the bodies, waste materials, or contaminated equipment.