Infection Control and Equipment Hygiene
Infection Control and Equipment Hygiene
This domain tests practices that prevent transmission between participants and keep equipment functioning.
Core rules
- Perform hand hygiene before and after every participant; wear gloves when handling contaminated items.
- Use a new single-use mouthpiece for each participant; clean and disinfect reusable nose clips and mouthpieces between uses.
- Clean and disinfect spirometer surfaces and sensors according to manufacturer instructions with an EPA-registered disinfectant and the labeled contact time.
- In-line filters reduce contamination but add dead space and resistance; they do not replace cleaning and disinfection.
- Defer testing for active infectious illness (for example, suspected tuberculosis, influenza, or COVID-19) and follow program protocols.
- Keep a cleaning log and store clean and dirty items separately.
Worked example
A participant coughs directly onto the mouthpiece during a maneuver. Reasoning: the mouthpiece is contaminated; discard it, remove gloves, perform hand hygiene, clean the exterior with disinfectant, and allow the labeled contact time before the next participant.
Traps
- Relying on a filter alone and skipping disinfection.
- Wiping a sensor with alcohol when the manufacturer specifies a different agent.
- Testing a participant with an active febrile respiratory illness because the schedule is full.