Safety & QC in Micro Flashcards
What is the destruction of all forms of life?
Sterilization
What is disinfection defined as?
Elimination of a defined scope of microorganisms
What is a chemical agent applied to inanimate objects?
Disinfectant
What is antiseptic defined as?
A substance applied to the skin to eliminate or reduce the number of bacteria
What type of organism is the most resistant infectious agent?
Prions
What type of organism is susceptible to detergents and wetting agents?
Enveloped Viruses
What type of organism provides a resistant layer of protection against sterilants and disinfectants?
Biofilms
What does the microbial load determine?
Exposure time necessary for 99.9% elimination
What is easily inactivated by organic material?
Bleach
What is the amount of exposure time required to kill microorgansisms?
1-2 minutes
What temperature do we store disinfectants?
20C to 22C or room temperature
What are the physical methods used in disinfection and sterilization?
Moist Heat (Steam pressure)
Dry Heat (Glassware)
Boiling (Disinfection Not Sterilization)
Pasteurization (No Sterilization)
How do Chemosterilizers exert their killing effects?
Reaction with membrane components
Denaturation of cellular proteins
Reaction with enzymes
Damage RNA/DNA
What is often used to disinfect biosafety hoods and is a potential carcinogen?
Formaldehyde
What is effective against bacteria, fungi, and viruses but does not penetrate organic material?
Glutaraldehyde
What requires free iodine causing proper dilution to be vital?
Iodophor
What is Iodophor known as?
Most common and best preoperative skin prep in the US
Disinfectant
What are the pros and cons of Sodium Hypochlorite (bleach)?
Pro: Inexpensive, kills a lot of things
Con: Rapidly degrades (30 days max)
What has reduced effectiveness in water and soap and is inactivated by organic material?
Detergents (Quaternary Ammonuim)
What can be substituted with halogens, alkyl, and pheyl and is activated in the presence of organic matter?
Phenol (Carbolic Acid)
What can Chlorhexidine gluconate (0.5 - 4%) cause?
Sever skin reactions in infants younger than 2 months
Cell membrane disruption
Precipitates
What are three characteristics of Triclosan?
Disrupts cell wall
Used as a hand wash and surgical scrub
Performs poorly against fungi
What was Silver Nitrate used for and why is it no longer in use?
Used for gonococcal conjunctivitis in newborns
No longer used due to Toxicity and Pollution
What is the most common gas used for sterilization?
Ethylene Oxide
Who regulates chemical skin antiseptics?
FDA
What is the goal of Hand washing/Hand rubs?
To eliminate transient flora
What is the objective of surgical hand scrub/surgical hand rubs?
To eliminate transient flora and most resident flora
Prevent surgical infections
When should we perform safety training for emloyees?
Annual updates
What are microbiology personnel at greater risk for?
Infections
Infectious agents: Viral, Fungal, Parasitic, Bacterial
What is the universal precaution in regards to how we handle specimens?
All blood and body fluids are treated as infectious
What are the transmission based precautions?
Contact (MRSA, Clostridium Difficile)
Droplet (Neisseria Meningitides)
Airborne (Mycobacterium Tuberculosis)
What are the four modes of infection?
Direct Contact
Inhalation
Ingestion
Needle Stick
What are the four risk groups identified by the WHO?
Group 1 (No/Low Ind. & Comm)
Group 2 (Moderate Ind. , Low Comm)
Group 3 (High Ind. , Low Comm)
Group 4 (High Ind & High Comm)
What are the three types of Biological Safety Cabinets (BSC)?
Class 1: Air circulates, filtered before exhausted
Class 2: Filtered before and after work surface (Most common)
Class 3: Self contained for high infectious
What is known as substances that singly or in combination pose a significant present or potential threat or hazard to human health?
Hazardous Waste
How often must we update the hazardous chemicals inventory?
Updated annualy
What steps do we follow in regards to fire safety?
Rescue
Alarm
Contain
Extinguish
When kind of material must we wear thermal gloves for?
Liquid Nitrogen
Who requires OSHA standards to be conducted annualy?
The Joint Commission (TJC)
What is Quality Control defined as?
Measures designated to ensure the medical reliability of laboratory data
What equipment do we perform daily temperature checks on?
Incubators
Heating Blocks
Water baths
Refrigerators
Freezers
When do we calibrate thermometers against a NIST one?
Upon arrival
Expiration date
Replacing filters, oiling and cleaning instruments, and recalibrating instruments are all examples of what?
Preventative Maintenance on equipment (QC)
What media requires further QC due to its high failure rates?
Chocolate Agar
Neisseria Media
Campylobacter Media
How often do we do reagent QC?
Every day they are used
Which kind of QC only uses specific strains of American Type Culture Collection (ATCC) control?
Antimicrobial Susceptibility QC
What are the steps in establishing performance monitors?
Plan (Approach)
Design (New Process)
Measure (Data Collection)
Access (Review Data)
Improve (Redesign)
