Personal Hygiene, Sanitation and Infection Control
Personal Hygiene, Sanitation and Infection Control
This domain tests everyday practices that stop infection spread in homes and care settings: hand hygiene, safe water and food, waste segregation, disinfection, and standard precautions.
Core rules
- Hand hygiene is the single most effective measure. Use soap and water when hands are visibly dirty or after toilet or body-fluid contact; alcohol rub is for visibly clean hands. Follow the six steps and include fingertips, thumbs and wrists.
- Standard precautions apply to every person: treat all blood and body fluids as infectious; use gloves for body fluids, an apron for splashes, and eye protection when risk exists.
- Needle-stick injury: wash with soap and running water, do not squeeze or suck, report immediately for post-exposure assessment.
- Biomedical waste: yellow bag for infectious and anatomical waste, red for contaminated recyclable plastic, white translucent for sharps, blue for glass, green for general waste. Never recap needles.
- Safe water: boil or use approved disinfection; store in covered containers with a tap.
- Sanitation: use toilets, wash hands after defecation, keep food covered, control flies and stagnant water.
Worked example
A caregiver sustains a needle-stick while giving an injection. Reasoning: the priority is immediate washing with soap and water, not squeezing the wound; then report to the supervisor, record the source and exposure, and seek post-exposure prophylaxis assessment within hours. Recapping caused the injury, so the corrective action is a sharps container at point of use and no recapping.
Traps that cost marks
- Using hand sanitiser when hands are soiled.
- Putting sharps in a plastic bag or recapping.
- Confusing red and yellow waste bags.