Infection Control
In the chain of infection, this is a bacteria, fungi, or virus.
What is an infectious agent?
Daily office cleaning with the goal of reducing the number of micro-organisms and prohibiting growth on common surfaces.
What is medical asepsis?
How long should you wash your hands with soap and water?
How long is 20 seconds?
Removal of visible debris from a piece of medical equipment - ie the initial wipe down
What is sanitation?
Trash that is saturated with blood but does not have any sharp edges should be thrown here
What is biohazard trash?
What federal organization is in charge of regulating health and safety practices?
Who is OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration)?
The condition of being free from infection or infectious material.
What is asepsis?
Name 3 times you should wash your hands.
Before and after patient contact; after contact with contaminated surfaces; after contact with blood or body fluids; before performing aseptic procedures; before and after contact with supplies or equipment near patients; after contact with a contaminated body site before moving to a clean body site; after glove removal
Removal of all pathogens and spores as in surgical asepsis
What is sterilization?
Name 3 items that should be disposed of in a sharps container.
What are used needles, syringes, scalpels/blades, empty glass vials, broken ampules, urine transfer straws, lancets, collection tubes filled with blood, disposable sharp instruments (scissors, pickups, staple removers)?
The last link in the chain of infection that allows the infection to spread to another person.
What is a susceptible host?
Removal of all micro-organisms from surfaces that will be used in invasive procedures to prevent the micro-organisms from entering the body.
What is surgical asepsis?
If hands are visibly soiled, how should you wash your hands?
What is with soap and water?
The process of destroying pathogens on a surface as in cleaning with chemicals.
What is disinfection?
Whenever a chemical is available in office, the employer has to provide this, which has information about the chemical including identification, hazard identification, ingredients, first-aid measures, fire-fighting measures, handling and storage information and more.
What is a safety data sheet (SDS)?
Protective clothing and equipment designed to protect a worker form exposure to chemicals or infectious material (ex: gloves, mask, gown, goggles).
What is personal protective equipment (PPE)?
Washing hands, cleaning rooms, wearing gloves when in contact with body fluids and proper cleaning of supplies are examples of this type of asepsis.
What is medical asepsis?
Which areas of the hands should you pay special attention to during hand washing?
An instrument that sterilizes equipment by subjecting them to high pressure saturated steam.
What is an autoclave?
A cotton ball or bandaid with a drop of blood on it should be thrown away here.
Where is regular trash?
In response to HIV and Hepatitis B, what decade were standard precautions implemented?
When are the 1980s?
These should not be worn in a clinical setting because they harbor pathogens and make asepsis difficult to achieve.
What are artificial nails and excess jewelry (rings, bracelets) on the hands?
Describe how to use alcohol-based hand santizer.
Minimum 60% alcohol should be used. Apply dime sized amount to palm of one hand and rub both hands together, creating friction, making sure to cover all surfaces of the hands (including between fingers and around nails) until the solution has dried.
Cleaning an endoscope is complex due to the nature of the device. Name 3 steps of the cleaning process for an endoscope.
1. Pre-cleaning. 2. Leak-testing. 3. Manual cleaning. 4. Rinse after cleaning. 5. High-level disinfection. 6. Rise after high level disinfection. 7. Drying.
If a plastic medication vial has remaining medication in it, what should we do with it?
What is Veolia or pharmaceutical waste container?