Park Bomin, Jung Sumi and Chu Yeunho won a Red Dot Design Award for what they believe to be a big improvement to the surgical gloves used in hospitals. The trio’s Safe Cut Surgical Gloves feature a pull tab that not only makes the gloves easier to remove, but also prevents them from ever being reused — intentionally or not — which helps prevent the spread of disease.
But while the gloves do appear to be a lot easier to remove and are all but impossible to put on again, pulling that tab and tearing through the latex material makes it a lot easier to accidentally get what’s on the gloves onto your skin. And that’s half the reason they’re worn — to protect those working with patients from coming into conflict with contaminants.
What do you think? Are these a definite improvement or a shortcut that could create increase unnecessary risks in a hospital setting? [Red Dot Design Award via OhGizmo! via Yanko Design]