Surgical glove package and donning method

In a surgical glove package, the surgical glove is contained in a cylindrical ring with the cuff of the glove stretched around the ring to open the cuff of the glove. A bag also contained within the ring has its mouth sealed around said ring and encloses the outer surface of the glove to protect the sterility thereof. To don the glove, the hand is inserted through the ring into the glove and then the cuff of the glove is released from the ring. The ring is then removed from the hand in a manner to turn the bag inside out as the ring passes over the hand so that the bag remains between the ring and the hand as the ring is passing over the hand.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
This invention relates to a surgical glove package designed to facilitate 
donning of this surgical glove package therein and to a method of donning 
surgical gloves. 
The technique now used for donning surgical gloves require that the sealed 
package containing sterile gloves be carefully opened so that the inner 
surfaces of the package, and more particularly, the outside surfaces of 
the gloves contained therein, do not come in contact with any surface. 
Upon being opened, the gloves are positioned next to each other with the 
large part of the cuff portions of the gloves being turned on themselves 
or inside out. An assistant grasps one glove by the folded cuff portion so 
as to touch only that surface when the glove is donned. The touched 
surface will thus correspond only to the glove's inner surface. After 
removing the glove from the package, the assistant grasps the cuff portion 
of the glove with the fingers of both hands and stretches the opening as 
much as possible in order to enlarge the cuff opening. The glove is then 
held in a somewhat vertical position in order to present the glove opening 
to the surgeon's hand. Care must be taken to make sure that the drooping 
glove fingers do not touch any surface other than the adjacent outer glove 
surfaces. The surgeon then vigorously thrusts his hand into the enlarged 
glove opening in an attempt to gain full entry into the fingers of the 
glove. The assistant must maintain a firm grip on the glove cuff portion 
in order to provide the resistance to the thrust necessary for the 
surgeon's hand to gain access to the fingertips of the glove. At the 
precise moment the surgeon's hand reaches the fingertips, the assistant 
must release hold of the glove to permit the cuff portion to snap tightly 
around the surgeon's wrist. The same procedure is followed for donning the 
second glove. 
Obviously this procedure is fraught with accidental contamination 
possibilities, especially during times of distress and urgency as may 
exist when torn gloves have to be replaced during an operation. In 
addition, this technique requires assistance of a second person with the 
necessary skill. Moreover, because of the difficulty in fully inserting 
the hand into the glove, the inner surfaces of the glove must be heavily 
powdered to lubricate the glove surface relative to the surgeon's hand. 
The powdering operation normally results in powder getting on the external 
surfaces of the glove. As a result, the surgeon must use sterile wipes to 
cleanse the glove surfaces of powder because the presence of powder 
particles in the surgical wound would aggravate internal organs and tissue 
and would adversely affect healing following surgery. 
In the instances where the user of surgical gloves does not have any 
assistance, care must be taken to avoid touching the outer surface to 
avoid contamination. This is difficult to do since the wearer must also 
stretch the glove enough to provide access with one hand while inserting 
the other. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
In the above identified copending application Ser. No. 600,893, a surgical 
glove package and apparatus designed to overcome these problems is 
disclosed. The package comprises a cylindrical ring made of paperboard or 
plastic with the cuff of the glove stretched around the edge of the ring 
to the outside surface thereof. A bag has its mouth fixed to the ring so 
that the bag encloses the outer surface of the glove to protect the 
sterility of the outer surface of the glove. The apparatus of the above 
identified parent application operates to inflate the glove in a manner so 
that the surgeon can insert his hand into the glove while inflated thus 
making it very easy for the surgeon to don the glove without assistance. 
The present invention provides another method of donning a glove making use 
of the same glove package but without the need of the glove inflating 
apparatus disclosed in the copending application. 
In accordance with the present invention, the surgeon dons surgical gloves 
by inserting his hand into the uninflated gloves through the rings of the 
glove packages while the cuffs of the gloves are stretched around the 
package rings. Because the rings hold the gloves open, the surgeon can 
insert his hands into the gloves without assistance and much more easily 
than can be done with the glove packages of the prior art. When the 
surgeon inserts his hands into the gloves, the bags of the glove packages 
will still be covering the outside surface of the gloves enabling the 
gloved hand of the surgeon to handle or manipulate the glove package for 
the other hand through the covering bag. After both hands have been 
encased with the glove, the surgeon releases the cuff of each glove from 
the ring by manipulating the cuff with his finger of his other hand 
through the covering bag. The rings and covering bags are then removed in 
a manner so that the bag turns inside out as the ring passes over the 
surgeon's gloved hand. In this manner, the bag prevents the ring from 
coming into direct contact with the outside surface of the glove as the 
ring passes over the surgeon's hand and thus protects the sterility of the 
outside surface of the glove from the ring, which might have become 
contaminated from contact with the surgeon's wrist or sleeve. 
The present invention thus provides a much easier technique for the surgeon 
to don surgical gloves without assistance than was possible with prior art 
glove packages. The present invention also provides a convenient surgeon's 
glove package, which not only facilitates the donning of the glove but 
also serves as a convenient means for shipping and storing the sterile 
gloves. 
Further objects and advantages of the present invention will become readily 
apparent as the following detailed description of the invention unfolds 
and when taken in conjunction with the drawings identified below.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
The embodiment of the surgical glove package as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 
comprises a ring 27, which may be made of paperboard or may be molded from 
a rigid plastic such as styrene or high density polyethylene. A 
conventional surgical glove 29, which is made of a thin, impervious, 
elastomeric material is removably mounted on the ring 27 together with a 
thin, flexible, impervious, transparent bag 31 covering the outer surface 
of the glove 29. The mouth of the bag 31 is sealed to the ring 27 so that 
the bag 31 completely encloses the outer surfaces of the glove 29. As 
shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the outer surfaces of the mouth of the bag 31 are 
sealed to the inner cylindrical wall of the ring 27. However, the bag 31 
may be secured to the ring 27 by sealing the inner surfaces of the mouth 
of the bag to the outer surface of the ring 27. The bag 31 may be made 
from very thin, flexible, plastic film. 
The embodiment of the package shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 is designed for gloves 
provided with a bead at the end of the cuff portion of the surgical glove. 
The cuff of the surgical glove is stretched around the end wall of the 
ring and the bead of the glove designated by the reference number 33 fits 
in a circular groove 35 extending around the cylindrical wall of the ring 
27. Since the cuff of the glove 29 is stretched around the end of the ring 
27, it fits tightly against the ring 27 so that the bag 31 sealed around 
the ring 27 completely encloses the outer surface of the glove 29 and 
protects the sterility thereof. 
The glove 29 and the sleeve 31 are folded up within the cylinder defined by 
the walls of the ring 27 so as to provide a compact, convenient package 
for storage and transportation. The package is sealed with appropriate 
outer wrapping 36 as shown in FIG. 3 and the gloves thus packaged are 
provided with suitable identification "right" and "left." The contents of 
the sealed package are sterilized with ethylene oxide gas in the 
conventional manner as well known in the art. It will be recognized that 
the wrapping 36 is not necessary to protect the sterility of the outer 
surface of the glove, as this function is performed by the bag 31. 
Nevertheless, as an added precaution, it is desirable to keep the inner 
surface of the glove and the outer surface of the bag sterile during 
shipment and storage and the wrapping 36 performs this function. 
The alternative embodiment of the ring package illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 5 
is designed for use with gloves which do not have a bead at the cuff end 
of the glove. In this embodiment, the ring is provided with a ridge 37 
extending around the outer surface of the ring 27 and the cuff of the 
glove 29 is stretched around the end of the ring and over the ridge 37. An 
elastic band 39, such as a conventional rubber band, is provided to secure 
the cuff end of the glove to the ring 27. The rubber band is positioned 
around the cuff portion of the glove against the shoulder defined by the 
ring 37 on the opposite side thereof from the end of the ring 27 around 
which the cuff portion of the glove 29 is stretched. 
In accordance with the glove donning method of the present invention, the 
surgeon would remove the wrapping 36 from a glove package for the glove 
for each hand. The wrappings are removed after laying the packages flat on 
a horizontal working surface with the inner surface of the glove presented 
facing upward. Then, assuming that the left glove is to be donned first, 
the surgeon grasps the ring 27 containing the left glove with his right 
hand and positions the plane of the ring horizontally so that the glove 29 
and the bag 31 are allowed to hang in a distended position from the ring 
as shown in FIG. 6. The surgeon then inserts his left hand through the 
ring 27 fully into the glove 29 while holding the ring 27 with his right 
hand. Because the ring 27 holds the mouth of the glove 29 in an open 
position, the surgeon can insert his hand fully into the glove without 
assistance and with much less difficulty than was possible in the prior 
art glove packages. Also, at this time, the outer surface of the glove 29 
will still be completely enclosed by the bag 31 so in this operation the 
surgeon does not need to take care to avoid touching any surface with the 
outside surface of the glove as he is donning the glove. After the surgeon 
has fully inserted his left hand into the glove, he then picks up the ring 
27 of the glove package for his right hand with his left hand through the 
bag 31 covering the gloved left hand and holds the ring in a horizontal 
position so that the glove and bag will hang in a distended position as in 
the illustration of FIG. 6. The surgeon then inserts his right hand 
through the ring fully into the glove while holding the ring with his left 
hand so that both hands will then by fully encased by the surgeon's 
gloves. Because the ring being grasped by the gloved left hand is grasped 
through the bag 31 covering his left hand, there is no danger of 
contamination of the glove on the left hand. After both hands have been 
inserted into the gloves in this manner, the surgeon releases the cuff of 
the glove on his left hand from the ring 27 by manipulating the point at 
which the cuff is held on the outside of the ring with the fingers of his 
right hand through the bag which will at this time be still covering the 
outer surface of the glove encasing the right hand. In the cause of a 
glove package in which the surgeon's glove has a bead, such as illustrated 
in FIGS. 1-3, the surgeon releases the cuff of the glove by rolling the 
bead 33 out of the groove 35. All the surgeon need do is merely start the 
rolling operation enough to remove the bead partially from the groove and 
the cuff of the glove will come loose from the ring and snap around the 
surgeon's wrist because of the stretched condition of the cuff on the 
ring. After releasing the cuff of his glove on his left hand in this 
manner, the surgeon will then release the cuff of the glove on his right 
hand in this same manner by using the fingers of his left hand through the 
bag which at this time will still be positioned over the surgeon's gloved 
left hand. 
At this time both hands will be gloved and the bags 31 will still be over 
the gloved hands. The rings 27 attached to the bags will be over the 
surgeon's wrists and no longer attached to the cuffs of the glove. Until 
the surgeon is ready to remove the bags 31 from the covering position, he 
must hold his hands in either a horizontal position or raised position, 
such as shown in FIG. 7, so as to maintain the bags 31 in the covering 
position. At this time, the surgeon can still touch non-sterile surfaces 
through the bags 31 covering the gloves without contaminating the surfaces 
of the gloves. When the surgeon is ready to remove a bag 31 and ring 27 
from a gloved hand, he positions his hand to extend vertically downward 
and removes the ring. As the ring comes over the surgeon's hand, it will 
turn the bag 31 inside out as illustrated in FIG. 8 so that the bag 31 
stays between the ring 27 and the gloved hand and the inside surface of 
the ring 27, which may have become contaminated through contact with the 
surgeon's wrist or sleeve, cannot come into contact with the outer surface 
of the glove. The bag turns inside out as the ring is removed because the 
flexibility and lightness of the bag causes it to exhibit a parachute 
effect as the ring comes off of the hand. 
The preferred procedure is for the surgeon to remove the bags 31 one at a 
time. To remove the first bag from his left hand, for example, the surgeon 
grasps the inside of the bag with his gloved left had as shown in FIG. 8 
and then pulls the ring 27 down over the left hand while holding the ring 
with his right hand through the bag still covering his right hand. Then to 
remove the bag and ring from his right hand, the surgeon grasps the inside 
of the bag covering the right hand with his right hand and grasps the ring 
on his right wrist with his left hand. To protect the sterility of the 
gloved left hand from contamination by the ring on the wrist of the right 
hand, the surgeon interposes the bag 31 which formerly covered his left 
hand between the ring on the right wrist and his gloved left hand and 
grasps the ring through the bag. This operation of interposing the bag, 
which formerly covered his left hand, between his gloved left hand and the 
ring on his right wrist can be readily accomplished without danger of 
contamination by the surgeon maintaining the grasp of his left hand on the 
inner surface of the bag from the time when the bag and ring were being 
removed from his left hand. Because at this time the bag which formerly 
was on the left hand will be turned inside out, the gloved left hand will 
touch only the sterile inner surface of the bag when the surgeon grasps 
the ring on the right wrist through the bag. The surgeon then removes the 
ring from the right hand causing the bag to turn inside out as the ring is 
removed. 
An alternative method of removing the bags 31 from the gloved hands is for 
the surgeon to grasp each of the bags from the inside with both hands and 
then to invert his hands and shake the rings off. The parachute effect 
resulting from lightness and flexibility of the bags will cause the bags 
to turn inside out as the rings pass over the surgeon's hands thus 
protecting the sterility of the outer surface of the glove from possible 
contamination by the inner surface of the ring. 
Thus it will be appreciated that the present invention provides an improved 
surgical glove package and method of donning surgical gloves which make it 
possible to don surgical gloves without assistance and without danger of 
contaminating the outer surface of the glove much more easily than can be 
accomplished with the glove packages of the prior art. The above 
description is of the preferred embodiments of the invention and many 
modifications may be made thereto without departing from the spirit and 
scope of the invention which is defined in the appended claims.