Safety & Infection Control Flashcards

Which of the following is an example of an engineering control under OSHA's hierarchy of controls for sharps injury prevention?

Answer: Using retractable-needle safety syringes

Engineering controls physically modify the device or environment to eliminate the hazard; retractable safety syringes are a classic example that do not rely on worker behavior.

A facility wants to track healthcare worker influenza vaccination rates as a safety metric. Which denominator is most appropriate for this calculation?

Answer: Total healthcare personnel employed during the season

Vaccination rate should reflect the proportion of all personnel at risk of transmitting influenza to patients, making total HCP employed the correct denominator.

The Joint Commission's 'do not use' abbreviation list was created primarily to reduce which category of patient safety events?

Answer: Medication errors

Dangerous abbreviations like 'U' (units) or 'QD' (daily) have caused fatal medication errors; the official 'Do Not Use' list targets handwriting and abbreviation-related prescribing errors.

During an outbreak investigation of gastrointestinal illness among patients and staff, the epidemiologist calculates an attack rate. Attack rate is defined as:

Answer: Number of ill persons divided by total population at risk × 100

Attack rate is a measure of risk: the proportion of exposed individuals who develop illness, calculated as cases / population at risk × 100.

A healthcare analyst identifies that a unit's MRSA transmission rate correlates with shifts that have the lowest nurse-to-patient ratios. This represents which type of safety relationship?

Answer: Latent system condition where resource constraints increase infection risk

Staffing shortfalls are a latent system condition in the Swiss Cheese Model — an upstream organizational factor that increases the probability of active failures like lapses in hand hygiene.

Under the EPA's regulation of healthcare waste, which category requires incineration or autoclaving before disposal in a municipal landfill?

Answer: Regulated medical waste (RMW) including sharps and pathological waste

Regulated medical waste must be rendered non-infectious through treatment (autoclave, microwave, or incineration) before final disposal in a conventional landfill per EPA and state regulations.

Which infection control strategy is considered the most cost-effective single intervention for preventing healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) according to CDC evidence reviews?

Answer: Alcohol-based hand hygiene compliance programs

Hand hygiene with alcohol-based hand rub is the most evidence-based and cost-effective HAI prevention strategy across all pathogen types and healthcare settings.