The sterile glove roll... need tips!

[ky_grl82]

I am checking off on foley catheterization next week and I am pretty comfortable with all of it except the sterile gloving. I put the first glove on my right hand (dominant) and that goes fine. When I get the second glove on, it rolls under when I get the back of my hand. I have tried spreading my fingers under the cuff wide and it rolls a bit less but still, it is breaking sterile. I have tried running my fingers along the back of my hand under the cuff but I break sterile each time and STILL it rolls under. It is just that the gloves are too small or is this a problem with most people? Any tips?

[CrazierThanYou]

Do your sterile gloves not come with the wrist cuffed down? If they do, I don't see how they would roll so far under as to cause your skin to touch the sterile outer surface. I'm trying to imagine it, though...

[Meriwhen, ASN, BSN, MSN, RN]

Make sure you're wearing the right size glove. Try practicing with a larger size and see if that one's easier for you.

[jnick31]

I had that problem for a while too. A couple of things that helped me was to make EXTRA sure that the backs of your hands are dry because any moisture will grab the glove. another thing was the type of glove. the ones that come in most foley kits aren't very good gloves and don't stretch very well. If you can get your hands on some that stretch better that would help too. The final thing that did the trick was to take the second hand slow. keep the sterile hand in the cuff and work it around your entire hand. 360. stretching it pretty hard the whole time. For me this would keep the material on the back side of my hand from having enough to roll at all. but the trick was to keep my hand (being gloved) as small as possible, work my way up the hand slowly... cm by cm, and stretch with some pretty good pressure.

Good luck. If you work with any nurses, ask around... they might have some other tricks that they can show you.

[decembergrad2011, BSN, RN]

Always keep your thumb up once you've gloved. This is especially important while gloving your second hand (which for me is my left) because you can easily break sterile by touching your gloved thumb. It sounds to me like your gloves are too small or your hands are too damp/sweaty when you are putting them on. Also, if this is for your competency at school, and you've been using the same gloves over and over for practice, it's possible that they've just gotten nasty inside from being reused. Ask for a new set of gloves before you have to do check-offs.

The only thing I disagree with here is her using her gloved thumb to pick up the second glove. I think that you should keep it away at all times. Otherwise, the video does a good job explaining.