CBIC Test 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which type of isolation precaution is required for a patient with confirmed pulmonary tuberculosis?
- Contact precautions
- Droplet precautions
- Airborne precautions (Correct answer)
- Standard precautions only
Correct answer: Airborne precautions
Pulmonary tuberculosis is transmitted via airborne particles and requires airborne precautions including a negative-pressure room and N95 respirator.
Question 2: An infection preventionist is reviewing surgical site infection (SSI) rates. Which denominator is most appropriate for calculating SSI rates?
- Total patient days
- Number of surgical procedures performed (Correct answer)
- Total admissions to the surgical unit
- Number of postoperative patients readmitted
Correct answer: Number of surgical procedures performed
SSI rates are expressed per number of surgical procedures because each procedure represents one opportunity for infection.
Question 3: Which disinfectant level is required to reprocess a semicritical medical device?
- Low-level disinfection
- High-level disinfection (Correct answer)
- Intermediate-level disinfection
- Sterilization
Correct answer: High-level disinfection
Semicritical items that contact mucous membranes require high-level disinfection to eliminate all microorganisms except bacterial spores.
Question 4: A cluster of Clostridium difficile infections is identified on a medical-surgical unit. Which environmental cleaning agent is most appropriate?
- Quaternary ammonium compounds
- Alcohol-based solutions
- EPA-registered sporicidal disinfectant (e.g., sodium hypochlorite) (Correct answer)
- Iodophor-based disinfectants
Correct answer: EPA-registered sporicidal disinfectant (e.g., sodium hypochlorite)
C. difficile spores are resistant to most disinfectants and require EPA-registered sporicidal agents such as diluted bleach for effective environmental decontamination.
Question 5: Which metric best describes the proportion of a population that has a disease at a specific point in time?
- Incidence rate
- Attack rate
- Point prevalence (Correct answer)
- Cumulative incidence
Correct answer: Point prevalence
Point prevalence measures the proportion of a population with a disease at one specific moment in time.
Question 6: Hand hygiene compliance monitoring reveals a 45% compliance rate among nursing staff. Which strategy has the strongest evidence for improving compliance?
- Posting written reminders at hand hygiene stations
- Multimodal improvement programs including education, reminders, and performance feedback (Correct answer)
- Mandatory disciplinary action for non-compliant staff
- Reducing the number of hand hygiene opportunities
Correct answer: Multimodal improvement programs including education, reminders, and performance feedback
The WHO and CDC recommend multimodal strategies combining education, system change, reminders, and performance feedback as the most evidence-based approach.
Question 7: A patient on contact precautions for MRSA is being transported to radiology. Which action is most appropriate?
- Cancel non-urgent transport to minimize exposure risk
- Notify receiving department and cover wounds or drainage sites before transport (Correct answer)
- Place the patient in a negative-pressure transport cart
- Transport only after the patient has bathed with chlorhexidine soap
Correct answer: Notify receiving department and cover wounds or drainage sites before transport
Notifying the receiving department and covering wounds or draining sites minimizes environmental contamination during transport of contact-precaution patients.
CBIC Test 2
Which type of isolation precaution is required for a patient with confirmed pulmonary tuberculosis?