CST Patient Care & Safety 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which type of fire extinguisher is recommended for use on an OR fire involving electrical equipment?
- Class A (water)
- Class B (CO2)
- Class C (CO2 or dry chemical) (Correct answer)
- Class D (dry powder)
Correct answer: Class C (CO2 or dry chemical)
Class C extinguishers use CO2 or dry chemical agents that are non-conductive, making them safe for electrical fires in the OR.
Question 2: A patient is transferred to the OR table and the safety strap is applied. Where is the strap correctly placed?
- Across the patient's chest
- Approximately 2 inches above the knees (Correct answer)
- Around the patient's ankles
- Across the patient's abdomen
Correct answer: Approximately 2 inches above the knees
The safety strap is placed approximately 2 inches above the knees to secure the patient without restricting circulation or causing pressure injury.
Question 3: When counting instruments, sponges, and sharps at the close of a procedure, who is responsible for initiating and documenting the final count?
- Surgeon and anesthesiologist
- Scrub technologist and circulating nurse (Correct answer)
- Surgical technologist alone
- Circulating nurse alone
Correct answer: Scrub technologist and circulating nurse
The scrub technologist and circulating nurse both participate in and are accountable for all counts, which must be documented by the circulator.
Question 4: What does the term 'wrong-site surgery' most commonly involve?
- Operating on the wrong organ within the correct body side
- Performing surgery on the wrong patient, wrong side, or wrong level (Correct answer)
- Using incorrect instruments during the procedure
- Administering the wrong anesthetic agent
Correct answer: Performing surgery on the wrong patient, wrong side, or wrong level
Wrong-site surgery encompasses operating on the wrong patient, wrong anatomic side, or wrong spinal level — all preventable by the Universal Protocol.
Question 5: Which action by the surgical technologist helps prevent deep vein thrombosis (DVT) in surgical patients?
- Keeping OR room temperature below 60°F
- Ensuring sequential compression devices (SCDs) are applied before induction (Correct answer)
- Positioning the patient in steep Trendelenburg throughout
- Using a warming blanket on the lower extremities only
Correct answer: Ensuring sequential compression devices (SCDs) are applied before induction
SCDs applied before anesthesia induction promote venous return and reduce DVT risk by mechanically compressing the lower extremities.
Question 6: A sterile field is established and a non-scrubbed team member reaches over the sterile field. What should the surgical technologist do?
- Ignore it if the person did not touch anything
- Verbally correct the breach and consider the field contaminated (Correct answer)
- Cover the area with a sterile drape and continue
- Ask the circulator to document it after the case
Correct answer: Verbally correct the breach and consider the field contaminated
Reaching over a sterile field is a breach of sterile technique; the technologist must speak up immediately and the field must be treated as contaminated.
Question 7: Which radiographic protection principle requires the surgical team to maintain maximum distance from the X-ray source during intraoperative fluoroscopy?
- ALARA (As Low As Reasonably Achievable)
- Shielding principle
- Time principle
- Distance principle (Correct answer)
Correct answer: Distance principle
The distance principle states that radiation exposure decreases by the inverse square of the distance — doubling distance reduces exposure by 75%.
CST Patient Care & Safety 3
Which type of fire extinguisher is recommended for use on an OR fire involving electrical equipment?