Safety and Healthcare Environment Review

Practice flashcards covering safe environment protocols, disaster planning, fire safety, and bioterrorism based on lecture notes.

Safe Environment

The freedom from injury and the prevention of falls, electrical injuries, fires, burns, and poisoning.

Gait Belts

A safety device applied securely around a patient's waist to provide added stability when ambulating; the nurse walks on the patient's weaker side with a leg behind the patient's knee.

Safety Reminder Devices (SRDs)

Devices used to limit patient movement, which must be kept to a minimum in older adults to ensure safety.

Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)

A national organization that provides guidelines to help reduce safety hazards in the workplace.

Hazard Communication Act

A regulation requiring hospitals to inform employees about the presence of or potential for harmful exposures and how to reduce the risk.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

A federal agency that provides services for the investigation, identification, prevention, and control of disease, including standard precaution guidelines.

Standard Precautions

A set of guidelines where all patients are treated as though they are infected with bloodborne pathogens; used with blood, non-intact skin, mucous membranes, and all body fluids except sweat.

Pathogenic Organism

A living thing capable of producing disease.

Type A Fire Extinguisher

An extinguisher used for paper, wood, and cloth fires.

Type B Fire Extinguisher

An extinguisher used for flammable liquid fires, such as grease and anesthetics.

Type C Fire Extinguisher

An extinguisher used for electrical fires.

Type D Fire Extinguisher

An extinguisher used for combustible metals.

Type ABC Fire Extinguisher

An extinguisher suitable for any type of fire.

RACE

A fire safety acronym: R = Rescue the Patients, A = Activate the Alarm, C = Contain the Fire, E = Evacuate or Extinguish the Fire.

PASS

An acronym for fire extinguisher use: P = Pull, A = Aim, S = Squeeze, S = Sweep.

External Disaster

A disaster originating outside the health care facility that results in an influx of casualties into the facility, typically focusing on the ER or ED.

Internal Disaster

A disaster occurring within the healthcare facility that may threaten the safety of patients, visitors, staff, and facility property.

Bioterrorism

The use of biological agents to create fear and threat, often considered the most likely form of a terrorist attack.

Anthrax

A disease caused by Bacillus anthracis, which can be transmitted through contact, ingestion, or inhalation.

Botulism

A condition caused by Clostridium botulinum, typically contracted through ingestion or inhalation.

Plague

A disease caused by Yersinia pestis, which is infected through inhalation.

Smallpox

A disease caused by the Variola virus and infected via inhalation.

Dirty Bomb

A combination of a traditional bomb and nuclear waste that causes radiation to be ingested or absorbed through skin openings.

Vesicant Chemical Agents

Highly lethal chemical agents that stay in the environment for weeks, causing bone marrow damage, severe tissue necrosis, sloughing, and airway complications.

Active Shooter

An individual actively engaged in killing or attempting to kill people in a confined and populated area, usually with no pattern to the selection of victims.