Which scenario requires wearing gloves?

• A. Handling a clean, dry object not contaminated.
• B. Contact with blood.
• C. Contact with nonintact skin during wound care.
• D. Handling equipment after maintaining contact with clean surfaces.

Answer: (C)

Gloves are used as a barrier whenever there is potential exposure to body fluids or broken skin. During wound care, the skin around the wound is nonintact, meaning its protective barrier is breached and microbes can be present in drainage or debris. Wearing gloves creates a barrier that protects both you and the patient from infection and helps keep the wound environment sterile. The other situations involve clean, dry objects or clean surfaces with no contamination, so gloves aren’t needed if there’s truly no exposure. (In general, contact with blood also requires gloves under standard precautions, but the scenario with nonintact skin during wound care clearly calls for a glove barrier.)