Safety and Infection Control
What this domain tests
Safety and Infection Control tests whether you can prevent harm before it happens: hand hygiene, standard and transmission-based precautions, sharps safety, environmental falls, restraints, medication safety, and disaster response. Jordanian settings are surveyed against national infection-control and accreditation standards, so expect questions on isolation, policy, and reporting.
Core rules
- Standard precautions apply to all clients. Perform hand hygiene before and after contact, before aseptic tasks, after body-fluid exposure, and after removing gloves.
- Use transmission-based precautions with standard precautions: contact for C. difficile, scabies, MRSA; droplet for influenza, pertussis; airborne for tuberculosis, measles, varicella. Fit-test an N95 respirator for airborne precautions.
- Follow sharps safety: do not recap, bend, or break needles; activate the safety device; dispose immediately at point of use.
- Prevent falls with multifactorial assessment, bed brakes, call light, appropriate footwear, and toileting rounds. Use restraints only for immediate safety, with a provider order, time limits, monitoring, and the least restrictive alternative.
- Report notifiable diseases and needlestick exposures immediately per Jordanian Ministry of Health and institutional policy.
Worked example
A client with suspected pulmonary tuberculosis is in a shared room. The nurse should move the client to an airborne infection isolation room, keep the door closed, wear a fit-tested N95 respirator, and ensure visitors follow precautions. Sputum collection should occur in the room, and the client should wear a surgical mask when transport is necessary. Reasoning: TB is transmitted by airborne droplet nuclei; a standard surgical mask on staff is not sufficient.
Traps
- Wearing gloves instead of performing hand hygiene.
- Using alcohol rub when hands are visibly soiled or after C. difficile contact; use soap and water.
- Removing a client from isolation before decontamination or transport precautions are planned.
- Applying restraints without an order, monitoring, or release schedule.