Mod 4: Infection Prevention Flashcards
A clear, colorless organic acid, CH3 COOH, with a distinctive pungent odor, used as a solvent and in the manufacture of rubber, plastics, acetate fibers, pharmaceuticals, and photogenic chemicals. Also known as vinegar.
Acetic Acid
A strong, pressurized, steam-heated vessel often used for laboratory experiments, sterilization, or cooking.
Autoclave
Inhibiting the growth of bacteria
Bacteriostatic
Federal agency under the Department of Health and Human Services that serves to protect public health through the control and prevention of disease.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
Process that begins when an agent leaves its reservoir or host through a portal of exit, and is conveyed by some mode transmission, then enters through an appropriate portal of entry to infect a susceptible host.
Chain of Infection
A chemical element with the atomic number 17; a disinfectant, decolorant, and irritant poison used for disinfecting, fumigating, and bleaching.
Chlorine
The process of physically removing all foreign material from an object.
Cleaning
The presence of extraneous, especially infectious, material that renders a substance or preparation impure or harmful.
Contamination
The process of making a person, object, or environment free of microorganisms, radioactivity, or other contaminants.
Decontamination
To deprive a substance of its natural qualities.
Denatured
Using specialized cleansing techniques that destroy or prevent growth of organisms capable of infection.
Disinfection
A primary alcohol formed by microbial fermentation of carbohydrates or by synthesis from ethylene; excessive ingestion results in acute intoxication, and ingestion during pregnancy can harm the fetus; also known as alcohol.
Ethanol (Ethyl alcohol)
A colorless flammable gas with a slightly sweet odor and taste that is used to sterilize objects.
Ethylene Oxide (ETO)
A type of radiation therapy that uses wavelengths of light that ionize water molecules for sterilization.
Gamma Radiation
Preventing infection by inhibiting the growth or action of microorganisms.
Germicidal
A disinfectant used in aqueous solution for sterilization of non-heat-resistant equipment; also used as a tissue fixative for light and electron microscopy.
Glutaraldehydes
Infections patients get while receiving medical treatment.
Health Care-Associated Infections (HAIs)
A colorless, heavy, strongly oxidizing liquid capable of reacting explosively with combustibles and used principally in aqueous solution as a mild antiseptic, a bleaching agent, an oxidizing agent, and a laboratory reagent.
Hydrogen Peroxide
A disease caused by microorganisms, especially those that release toxins or invade body tissues.
Infection
Policies and procedures used to minimize the risk of spreading infections, especially in hospitals and human or animal health care facilities.
Infection Control and Prevention
A localized reaction that produces redness, warmth, swelling, and pain as a result of infection, irritation, or injury.
Inflammation
A colorless, flammable, water-soluble liquid; used chiefly in the manufacture of antifreeze and rubbing alcohol and as a solvent.
Isopropyl
Infection resulting from treatment in a hospital or a health care service unit; older term that is replaced with health care-associated infections (HAIs) by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Nosocomial Infections
Partial sterilization of foods at a temperature that destroys harmful microorganisms without major changes in the chemistry of the food.
Pasteurization
Extremely poisonous compounds that are caustic and disinfectant; used as a pharmaceutical preservative and in dilution as an antimicrobial and topical anesthetic and antipruritic.
Phenols
The area in which a microorganism enters the body such as cuts, lesions, injection sites, or natural body orifices.
Portal of Entry
A group of compounds used as disinfectants that are bacterial to many organisms.
Quarternary Ammonium Compounds
The process whereby pathogenic organisms are reduced to safe levels on inanimate objects, thereby reducing the likelihood of cross-infection.
Sanitization
Cells produced by fungi for reproduction; a resistant cell produced by bacteria to withstand extreme heat or cold or dehydration.
Spores
Guidelines recommended by the CDC for reducing the risk of transmission of bloodborne and other pathogens in hospitals; the standard precautions synthesize the major features of universal precautions (designed to reduce the risk of transmission of bloodborne pathogens) and body substance isolation (designed to reduce the risk of pathogens from moist body substances) and apply them to all patients receiving care in hospitals regardless of their diagnosis or presumed infection status.
Standard Precautions
A technique for destroying microorganisms on inanimate objects using heat, water, chemicals, or gases.
Sterilization
Microorganisms that can grow and reproduce in rich, moist soil where many nutrients are available.
Vegetative Organisms
