Safety and Infection Prevention
Domain 5: Safety and Infection Prevention. Questions cover the chain of infection, standard and transmission-based precautions, biomedical waste segregation, sharps safety, spill management and basic workplace safety.
Chain of infection
Six links: infectious agent, reservoir, portal of exit, mode of transmission, portal of entry, susceptible host. Breaking any link stops infection - hand hygiene breaks transmission, sterilisation removes the agent, immunisation protects the host.
Standard precautions
Treat every patient's blood and body fluids as potentially infectious. Use gloves for contact with fluids, an apron for splashes, eye protection when splashing is likely; never recap needles; dispose of sharps immediately at the point of use.
Transmission-based precautions
- Contact – gloves and gown, dedicated equipment (MRSA, scabies).
- Droplet – surgical mask within one metre (influenza, meningitis).
- Airborne – N95 respirator, negative-pressure room (TB, measles).
Biomedical waste colour coding (India)
- Yellow – anatomical waste, soiled waste, expired medicines, chemical and laboratory waste.
- Red – contaminated recyclable plastic: IV tubing, bottles, gloves, catheters.
- White (translucent) – sharps: needles, syringes with fixed needles, blades.
- Blue – glassware, broken glass, metallic implants.
- Green – general waste such as paper and food. Sharps containers are puncture-proof, filled only to three-quarters and never emptied by hand.
Worked example
Sort: a used needle, a used IV bottle, a broken glass ampoule, a leftover chapati. Reasoning: needle → white sharps container; IV bottle → red bag; broken glass → blue puncture-resistant container; chapati → green bin.
Traps
- Recapping a needle or carrying it across the room.
- Putting gloves or tubing in the yellow bag.
- Skipping hand hygiene after removing gloves.