Bacterial contamination of nonsterile gloves versus hands after hand hygiene.

Background: Nonsterile gloves (NSG) are often overused, while the emphasis should lie in hand hygiene (HH). Furthermore, improper HH leads to contamination of NSG in glove boxes. The aim of this study was to compare microbial loads on hands from health-care workers (HCW) after HH to NSG and to study the influence of position and filling level of glove boxes on contamination rates.