Why do medical staff overuse latex gloves?

Having worked in nursing I've come across so many nursing staff who use latex / nitrile rubber gloves when there really is no need for universal precautions - feeding or washing or dressing patients for example. Some of my collegues will put gloves on as soon as they start the shift and just leave them on. If anything, this blaze attitude reduces hygiene. Unnecessary glove use dehumanises patients. I for one would not want staff refusing to touch me without gloves when I had a non-contagious ailment. Anyone agree?

Yes, I think that is overdoing it a bit and actually probably spreading more germs than anything else when they wear the gloves continually and probably have contact with more than one patient in the same gloves. Not a good idea. There are occasions when gloves are necessary, but they are changed in between patients as well as handwashing every time before and after patient contact.
I work in a correctional setting as a nurse. There, I have disease, staph infections, + Hep B & C patients, etc.... I exercise extra precaution and am careful not to take anything home, but I don't necessary glove up to take a blood pressure.

better to be safe then sorry.

I've kinda noticed that, too. I mean, why always? Maybe they think it is more hygenic, but gloves can be just as dirty as hands. Like we don't even know the process the gloves go through to get into their plastic bags. What if they don't clean the factory machines that produce the gloves? Wouldn't that automatically make newly made gloves dirty? Are the gloves sanitized? I highly doubt that. We can sanitize our hands, though. Why don't doctors and nurses just do that? Killing germs is a lot more affective than putting another layer of them on.