As a professional firefighter and paramedic, I used latex and nitrile gloves routinely for years.

The direction that brand new Emergency Medical Technicians (EMT’s) get about glove use is to “make sure you always use Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)”. This typically includes gloves and eye protection at a minimum and suggests masks and gowns when the patient contact might be especially bloody or require droplet protection from airborne moisture.

So that is all we need to know, correct? Just wear gloves, protective eyewear and a mask and we are completely safe.

Nope.

One of the things the Ebola virus outbreak in 2014 taught us was that even medical professionals were not paying close enough attention to how they don and doff PPE. Specifically, incorrect removal of PPE was causing Ebola exposure to healthcare workers.

I have to admit, that even as a pre-hospital emergency medicine professional, I paid little attention to glove and mask hygiene for many of the early years of my career.

Granted, the biggest (or at least most overt) threat to medical professionals through the 80’s, 90’s and early 2000’s was always exposure to blood-borne pathogens.

PPE was primarily worn to keep other peoples’ goo off you. Not much thought was given to invisible pathogens. Not until 2014.

Around that time, we all started paying a lot more attention to when and how we put on our protective gear, and more importantly when and how we took it off.