Chapter 5 Infection Control Flashcards
Mr. X has been a patient at Happy Valley Community Hospital for 5 days. During his stay in the hospital, he was taken to the diagnostic imaging department several times for diagnostic imaging procedures. He was cared for each time he went to that department by a radiographer who had a severe upper respiratory infection. Two days after he returned home from the hospital, he also developed a severe upper respiratory infection. It would be appropriate to say that Mr. X had developed:
A nosocomial infection
Mary Mandura, an 82-year-odl white woman, has been hospitalized for several weeks as a result of multiple injuries suffered in an automobile accident. She has been treated with a series of broad spectrum antibiotics to discourage infection. She now has severe diarrhea, and the stool culture has produced C. difficile. This would be called:
A superinfection
Acquired immunity
Active production or receipt of antibodies
The inflammatory response
The second line of defense against infection
The skin, the hair, the acidic condition of the stomach and intestines
The first line of defense against infection
Natural active acquired immunity
Antibodies acquired by having a particular disease
Antigen-antibody response
The third line of defense against infection
There is currently less reason to be concerned about contracting HIV because there is improved treatment and the disease is no longer fatal. (True or False)
False
Hepatitis B and C are blood-borne viral infections. When you are caring for a person known to have either diseases, use the following infection control techniques:
- Wear gloves if you may come in contact with blood or body substances.
- Wear goggles if there is a possibility of your being splashed with blood or body substances.
Explain the difference between Tier 1 and Tier 2 infection control precautions.
- Tier 1 precautions are the basic standards for health care workers. This keeps health care workers and patients safe, and saves the worker the time it takes to differentiate from the different levels of protection from different diseases. There are differences for blood and body fluids, but these are the general rules for hospitals and health care facilities.
- Tier 2 precautions are procedures based on the possible transmission of diseases. The three main subjects are airborne isolation, droplet isolation, and contact isolation. These are expanded precautions for communicable diseases. Most of these are applied by the health care worker for the specific patient, and is case-by-case.
A person who has recently been infected with HIV may have no symptoms of disease, but is able to transmit HIV to another person. (True or False)
True
HIV, or the disease that it produces, is transmitted by direct or indirect contact with infected blood or body substances. (True or False)
True
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Conducts multi-center studies on diseases and publishes a weekly outline on the statistics of infectious diseases in the United States.
World Health Organization
Receives data concerning infectious disease from all countries and complies a report for every country.
Food and Drug Administration
Regulates the manufacture and sale of medications to protect health of US citizens.
The Joint Commission
Sets requirements for hospital safety and infection control practices.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Controls disposal of medical waste.
The radiographer should always dress for the workplace with infection control in mind. This means that:
Clothing must be washable; fingernails must be kept short; shoes must be comfortable and have closed toes; and no jewelry is worn.
Microorganisms that need a host cell to reproduce and are virtually unresponsive to antimicrobial drugs are:
Viruses
When a person is in the incubation period of the disease process, the radiographer has no control over its transmission. (True or False)
False
The radiographer must use strict infection control measures that include blood and body substance precautions for:
Every patient who enters the diagnostic imaging department.
Blood and body substance precautions include:
Use of clean, disposable gloves for contact of the hands with blood or body fluids, a mask and goggles if blood or body fluids may spray on your face, and a gown if the blood and body fluids may touch your clothing for any patient care that may involve contact with blood or body fluids.
The most common means of spreading infection are:
Human hands
The elements needed to produce an infection are a source, a host, and a means of transmission. An example of a source of infection might be:
- A radiography student who has a cold and comes to work
- A visitor in the hospital who has a “fever blister” on her mouth
- A patient who develops pneumonia
A safety precaution that must be taken when disposing of used hypodermic needles and syringes is:
To place the syringe immediately after use with the uncapped needle attached directly into the contaminated waste receptacle provided
Touching objects that have been contaminated with disease-producing microbes
Indirect contact
Ingesting contaminated water, food, drugs, or blood
Vehicle contact
Inhaling air contaminated with infectious microbes
Airborne contact
Contact with secretions transferred by sneezing, coughing, or talking
Droplet contact
Touching contaminated material with hands
Direct contact
When caring for a patient whom you know to be infected with HIV and who doesn’t have AIDS, you use standard blood and body fluid precautions and:
- Keep all information concerning the patient confidential
- Keep the patient’s chart in a place where it cannot be read by others
The radiographer who has received a needle-stick injury is obliged to notify his or her supervisor at the end of the work day. (True or False)
False (Notify immediately)
Hand hygiene is to be used int he following situations by radiographers in the workplace:
- Before caring for a patient
- After caring for a patient
- When preparing of an invasive procedure
If it isn’t possible to find a sink to wash hands, it is safe to use alcohol-based hand rubs. (True or False)
True
The route of transmission of MRSA, VRE, VRSA, and ESBL is:
Direct contact
When the radiographer is to enter the newborn nursery, he or she must do the following:
- Always scrub his hands for 3 minutes
- Always clean his equipment with a disinfectant solution
The radiographer entering the room of a patient with tuberculosis (TB) must wear the following:
- Gloves
- An N95 respirator mask
