Fundamentals of Nursing and Basic Patient Care
Core concepts
Fundamentals is the exam's safety net: infection control, vital signs, mobility, skin integrity, nutrition and elimination, and documentation. Standard precautions apply to every patient; transmission-based precautions add gown and gloves (contact), a mask within about one metre (droplet), and a fit-tested N95 respirator (airborne). Alcohol-based rub is preferred for routine hand hygiene except with C. difficile or norovirus (use soap and water) and when hands are visibly soiled.
Sterile technique: keep the field above waist level, never turn your back on it, treat the outer 2.5 cm border as contaminated, and discard anything that touches an unsterile surface. Verify nasogastric tube placement by aspirate pH and radiography, not by auscultating a whoosh of air.
Traps
Restraint questions: a prescriber's order is required, it is time-limited, the least restrictive device is used, and neurovascular, skin, and behavioural checks are documented. Pressure injury staging: stage 1 is non-blanchable erythema of intact skin - never describe it as broken. And 'first' versus 'next' - assessment usually precedes intervention.
Worked rule
Hand hygiene is the single most effective infection-prevention action: about 20 seconds, before and after every patient contact, and after glove removal. When an option is hand hygiene and another is a task, hand hygiene wins.