Review Questions

Review Questions

1. Why is it critical for health care workers to apply infection control practices in the workplace?

Failure to prevent the spread of an infectious disease can cause unnecessary pain, suffering, and even death. Regulatory standards have been developed to prevent pathogens from being passed from patient to patient, staff to patient, patient to staff, or staff to staff.

2. What theories and discoveries led up to microbiology as we know it today?

The significant discovery was the microscope. It was invented by Anton van Leeuwenhoek in the 1600s. In the 1800s, Louis Pasteur, a French biochemist and physicist, used the microscope to develop the germ theory, which stated that specific microorganisms called bacteria cause specific diseases in both humans and animals.

3. Name and describe the characteristics of each of the five types of infectious microbes. Include examples of diseases caused by each type.

* Bacteria are one-celled plants and can be either pathogenic or nonpathogenic. Bacteria are characterized by their shapes; they can be round, rod, or spiral. Diseases: abscesses, boils, wound infections, urinary tract infections, pneumonia, rheumatic fever, severe sore throat, tuberculosis, tetanus, whooping cough, food poisoning, diphtheria, typhoid fever, syphilis, and cholera.

* Viruses are the smallest of the microbes. Viruses are not whole cells, and they depend on host cells for food, nutrients, and a means of reproduction. Diseases: common cold, flu, pneumonia, chicken pox, croup, hepatitis B, AIDS, measles, mumps, warts, herpes, and polio.

* Fungi are a large group of simple plants. Two forms of fungi are potential pathogens: yeasts and molds. Yeasts are one-celled and molds are multi-celled plants. Both are present everywhere. Diseases: ringworm, scalp and skin infections, systemic infections.

* Rickettsia are smaller than bacteria and have rod or spherical shapes. Rickettsia must live in other cells. Diseases: several types of typhus and Rocky Mountain spotted fever.

* Protozoa are the only microorganisms classified as animals. They are one-celled, plentiful in the environment, and reside in and on the body. Diseases: dysentery, trichomonas, toxiplasmosis, pneumonia, and malaria.

4. What are the elements in the chain of infection, and how can it be broken?

The chain of infection explains how infectious diseases occur and are transmitted. There are six elements in the chain:

* The infectious agent
* Reservoir host of the agent
* Portal of exit from the host
* Route of transmission to a new host
* Portal of entry into the new host
* Susceptible host to infect

A number of defense mechanisms exist outside and inside the body to break the chain, including decreasing the sources of microorganisms, preventing the transmission of microorganisms, and maximizing the host’s resistance to the microorganism.

5. What are three examples of defenses used by the body against infection?

* Cilia, in the respiratory tract, which catch pathogens
* Coughing/sneezing, which propels pathogens outward
* Tears, which contain chemicals to kill bacteria
* Hydrochloric acid in the stomach, which destroys pathogens
* Mucous membranes, which trap pathogens
* Rise in body temperature (fever), which kills microorganisms
* Additional white blood cell production, which destroys pathogens

6. What are the roles of the CDC and OSHA in protecting the public against infectious diseases?

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is a government agency in the United States Department of Health and Human Services. By studying the causes and distribution of disease, the CDC is able to formulate safety guidelines to help prevent and control the spread of infectious disease.

OSHA, the Occupational Health and Safety Administration in the Labor Department, was created in 1970 to establish minimum, uniform workplace health and safety standards and enforce the standards it established. For example, it requires employers to have an exposure control plan.

7. What are the requirements of Standard Precautions?

Standard Precautions must be followed to prevent contact with potentially infectious body fluids. Techniques include:

* Handwashing
* Wearing personal protective equipment, such as gloves and gown
* Carefully handling patient care equipment
* Handling, transporting, and processing used linen in a manner that prevents skin and mucous membrane exposures, contamination of clothing, and transfer of microorganisms to other patients and environments

8. What are medical and surgical aseptic techniques?

Medical asepsis includes procedures to decrease the number and spread of pathogens in the environment, for example, handwashing, good personal hygiene, etc. Surgical asepsis includes procedures to completely eliminate the presence of pathogens from objects and areas, for example, wearing sterile caps and gowns, sterilizing and handling equipment in special ways, etc.

9. What is the difference between antiseptics, disinfectants, and sterilization?

*Antiseptics are chemical agents that are bacteriostatic.
*Disinfectants are agents or methods that destroy most bacteria and viruses.
*Sterilization consists of agents or methods that totally destroy all microorganisms.

10. What are the three types of transmission-based precautions?

* Airborne precautions
* Droplet precautions
* Contact precautions

11. Which three infectious diseases are major risks for health care workers?

* Hepatitis B
* Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)
* Tuberculosis

12. Name two drug-resistant organisms. What has caused the development of this resistance? What are the specific risks caused by these organisms?

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureas (MRSA) and vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus (VRE) are two drug-resistant organisms. The development of this resistance has been caused by the overuse of antibiotics for minor conditions and the failure of patients to complete the entire course of a prescribed antibiotic.

Drug-resistant organisms cause very serious infections that are now difficult to treat. Available treatments, if any, are expensive and have severe side effects. These infections occur most frequently in elderly patients and may result in their deaths.

13. What are the purpose and contents of an Exposure Control Plan?

The purpose is to provide information about predetermining employee risk to blood-borne pathogens, how employees will be protected, and employee training and testing requirements. Its contents include actions to take in case of exposure, time frames for reporting, to whom to report the incidents of exposure, forms to complete, procedures for evaluating risk, plans for counseling, and information on safe practices.