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NCLEX-PN Standard and Transmission-Based Precautions — practice questions

Explore 18 free Standard and Transmission-Based Precautions questions in NCLEX-PN Safety and Infection Control. Open each question or exercise to read its content, reference answers and available explanation.

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Standard and Transmission-Based Precautions questions and exercises with answers

Showing questions 1–18 of 18.

Standard Precautions treat body substances as potentially infectious, with one stated exception. Which substance is that exception?Read the answer and worked solution →Which set names the three categories of Transmission-Based Precautions?Read the answer and worked solution →Which group of agents calls for Airborne Precautions?Read the answer and worked solution →For which patients is a Protective Environment designed?Read the answer and worked solution →How does room air pressure in a Protective Environment compare with the corridor?Read the answer and worked solution →What spatial separation is advised for people with respiratory infections in common waiting areas?Read the answer and worked solution →Hands are visibly soiled with blood. Which hand hygiene method is used?Read the answer and worked solution →Hands are not visibly soiled. Which method of hand decontamination is preferred?Read the answer and worked solution →Which assumption underlies the Standard Precautions recommendations?Read the answer and worked solution →Which practice was added to Standard Precautions mainly to protect patients rather than personnel?Read the answer and worked solution →Which finding on its own suggests that a patient needs Contact Precautions?Read the answer and worked solution →Which effects on patients must be counteracted while Transmission-Based Precautions are in place?Read the answer and worked solution →Droplet Precautions cover group A streptococcus for what period of treatment?Read the answer and worked solution →Sort the agents by precautionRead the answer and worked solution →Infection control bingoRead the answer and worked solution →Catch the Standard PrecautionsRead the answer and worked solution →Order the cough etiquette stepsRead the answer and worked solution →True or false: isolation precautionsRead the answer and worked solution →

Worked practice questions

Standard Precautions treat body substances as potentially infectious, with one stated exception. Which substance is that exception?

  1. Saliva
  2. Sweat
  3. Urine
  4. Tears
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Correct answer: B. Sweat

1. The founding principle covers all blood, body fluids, secretions and excretions, plus nonintact skin and mucous membranes. 2. Sweat is the single substance excluded from that list. 3. Saliva, urine and tears are secretions or excretions, so all three stay inside the list and are handled as potentially infectious. 4. Treating sweat as the exception does not relax hand hygiene, which is performed for patient contact regardless. _Source: CDC Guideline for Isolation Precautions: Preventing Transmission of Infectious Agents in Healthcare Settings (2007), Part III, section III.A. Standard Precautions_

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Which set names the three categories of Transmission-Based Precautions?

  1. Contact, Droplet and Protective Precautions
  2. Contact, Airborne and Universal Precautions
  3. Contact, Droplet and Airborne Precautions
  4. Droplet, Airborne and Reverse Precautions
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Correct answer: C. Contact, Droplet and Airborne Precautions

1. Transmission-Based Precautions come in exactly three categories: Contact, Droplet and Airborne. 2. Universal Precautions is an older scheme whose features were folded into Standard Precautions, so it is not a category here. 3. A Protective Environment protects a severely immunocompromised patient from the surroundings, which is the opposite purpose. 4. Reverse Precautions is not a category in this scheme. _Source: CDC Guideline for Isolation Precautions: Preventing Transmission of Infectious Agents in Healthcare Settings (2007), Part III, section III.B. Transmission-Based Precautions_

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Which group of agents calls for Airborne Precautions?

  1. Influenza virus, adenovirus and rhinovirus
  2. Norovirus, C. difficile and VRE colonization
  3. Excessive wound drainage and fecal incontinence
  4. Measles, chickenpox and M. tuberculosis
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Correct answer: D. Measles, chickenpox and M. tuberculosis

1. Airborne Precautions cover agents that stay infectious over long distances while suspended in air. 2. Rubeola virus for measles, varicella virus for chickenpox and M. tuberculosis are named in that group. 3. Influenza virus, adenovirus and rhinovirus are named under Droplet Precautions instead. 4. Norovirus, C. difficile and VRE contaminate the environment and drive Contact Precautions, as does heavy wound drainage. _Source: CDC Guideline for Isolation Precautions: Preventing Transmission of Infectious Agents in Healthcare Settings (2007), Part III, section III.B.3. Airborne precautions_

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