COT Patient Care and Communication 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: When obtaining informed consent for a procedure, which element is NOT required?
- Description of the procedure
- Risks and benefits
- The physician's personal opinion on cost (Correct answer)
- Alternative treatment options
Correct answer: The physician's personal opinion on cost
Informed consent requires description of the procedure, risks, benefits, and alternatives, but not the physician's personal financial opinions.
Question 2: A patient reports eye pain and redness after a recent procedure. The technician's BEST first response is to:
- Reassure the patient it will resolve on its own
- Immediately notify the supervising ophthalmologist (Correct answer)
- Ask the patient to return in a week
- Document and take no further action
Correct answer: Immediately notify the supervising ophthalmologist
Post-procedure pain and redness may indicate a complication requiring prompt physician evaluation.
Question 3: What does SOAP stand for in clinical documentation?
- Symptom, Observation, Assessment, Plan
- Subjective, Objective, Assessment, Plan (Correct answer)
- Subjective, Observation, Action, Procedure
- Symptom, Objective, Analysis, Protocol
Correct answer: Subjective, Objective, Assessment, Plan
SOAP notes consist of Subjective (patient history), Objective (exam findings), Assessment (diagnosis), and Plan (treatment).
Question 4: Which universal precaution practice is most important when performing contact tonometry?
- Wearing gloves and disinfecting the tonometer tip between patients (Correct answer)
- Wearing a gown for every patient
- Using a new instrument for every patient
- Asking patients if they have infections before testing
Correct answer: Wearing gloves and disinfecting the tonometer tip between patients
Contact tonometry requires proper disinfection of the probe tip (with approved agents) and gloves to prevent cross-contamination.
Question 5: Proper hand hygiene in the ophthalmic clinic should occur:
- Only after contact with bodily fluids
- Before and after every patient contact (Correct answer)
- Once at the beginning and end of the shift
- Only when hands are visibly soiled
Correct answer: Before and after every patient contact
Hand hygiene before and after each patient encounter is the single most effective way to prevent healthcare-associated infections.
Question 6: When documenting visual acuity 'cc' versus 'sc', these abbreviations refer to:
- Right eye versus left eye
- With correction versus without correction (Correct answer)
- Near vision versus distance vision
- Cycloplegic versus non-cycloplegic refraction
Correct answer: With correction versus without correction
'cc' (cum correctione) means with correction; 'sc' (sine correctione) means without correction.
COT Patient Care and Communication 2
When obtaining informed consent for a procedure, which element is NOT required?