Basic Nursing Skills and Infection Control
Core concepts
Infection control and basic skills questions reward the CNA who understands why a step exists, not just the sequence. Hand hygiene is the single most effective way to break the chain of infection and is required before and after every resident contact, after removing gloves, after touching body fluids or contaminated equipment, and before handling food. Standard precautions apply to every resident regardless of diagnosis. Personal protective equipment goes on in the order gown, mask, goggles, gloves, and comes off gloves first, then goggles, gown, and mask, with hand hygiene immediately afterward.
Know the three transmission-based precaution types with examples: contact (C. difficile, MRSA, scabies, draining wounds), droplet (influenza, pertussis, meningitis), and airborne (tuberculosis, measles, varicella), which requires an N95 respirator and a negative-pressure room.
Vital signs are core skills: take a radial pulse, count respirations for a full minute without announcing it, measure blood pressure with the cuff at heart level, and record intake and output in milliliters. Report abnormal findings to the nurse promptly and document factually rather than guessing.
Traps
Questions often test whether gloves replace hand washing (they do not), whether alcohol rub works against C. difficile and norovirus spores (it does not; use soap and water), the correct doffing order, and whether a CNA should wait and see instead of reporting.
Rule of thumb
Wash in, wash out. If the question names C. difficile or norovirus, choose soap and water over alcohol-based rub.