Group A: Infection Control
The chain of infection and standard precautions
Infection control questions reward precision. Understand the chain of infection (infectious agent, reservoir, portal of exit, mode of transmission, portal of entry, susceptible host) and how each control breaks a link. Standard precautions apply to every client regardless of perceived risk. Know the difference between cleaning, disinfection and sterilisation: cleaning removes organic matter, disinfection reduces pathogens on surfaces, sterilisation destroys all microorganisms including spores and is required for reusable items that penetrate skin.
Single-use and critical items
Needles, cartridges, pigment caps and anything contacting broken skin must be single-use and disposed of in a sharps container. A frequent trap is describing a reusable item as 'sterilised' when it was only disinfected, or assuming an autoclave bag is sterile until the cycle is validated.
Hand hygiene and PPE
Know the moments for hand hygiene and the correct sequence for donning and doffing gloves. Gloves are not a substitute for hand washing. Change gloves between clients and when torn or contaminated.
Environmental controls
Understand zoning of clean and dirty areas, surface barriers, and spill management. Blood-borne virus transmission risk is the concept examiners test.
Worked rule of thumb
If an item touches blood or broken skin, treat it as critical: single-use or sterilisable, never merely disinfected.