Infection Prevention and Control
Core concepts
Infection control questions test standard precautions, transmission-based precautions, hand hygiene, aseptic technique, sterilisation versus disinfection, and safe sharps handling. Know the chain of infection and where each intervention breaks it.
Traps to expect
- Standard versus additional precautions: standard precautions apply to every patient; contact, droplet, and airborne precautions are added for specific organisms.
- Personal protective equipment order: don gown and gloves last; remove gloves first, then gown, then perform hand hygiene.
- Airborne precautions: fit-tested respirator, negative-pressure room, and door closed for tuberculosis, measles, and varicella.
- Hand hygiene moments: before touching a patient, before a clean procedure, after body-fluid exposure, after touching a patient, and after touching surroundings.
- Sharps: never recap by hand; dispose immediately at the point of use.
Worked rule of thumb
Ask how does this organism travel? Contact spreads by touch, droplet by large particles over short distances, airborne by small particles over long distances. The route dictates the precaution, and the precaution dictates the equipment and room.
Study approach
Map each organism to its route and required precaution; this single table answers most items.