Gloves are worn to reduce the risk of infection from microorganisms and to protect the patient and clinician. They are used for patients on which precautions?

• A. Contact precautions
• B. Airborne precautions
• C. Droplet precautions
• D. Standard precautions

Answer: (A)

Gloves are most directly tied to preventing transmission when contact with the patient or their environment is involved. In contact precautions, pathogens spread through direct touch or via contaminated surfaces, so wearing gloves creates a barrier that reduces the chance of transferring microorganisms to or from the clinician, patient, or equipment. This protection is part of a broader hand hygiene and barrier approach, meaning you should wash or sanitize hands before donning gloves and after removing them, and change gloves between patients or when they become contaminated. While gloves can be used as part of standard precautions for any patient, their key role in this context is to block direct contact transmission in contact precautions.