Untitled Flashcard Set
acute illness
Third stage of infection where manifestations of a specific infectious disease process are obvious. This is also the stage where it is severe.
airborne infection isolation room (AIIR)
Single client rooms built with special air handling and ventilation to provide a negative pressure (relative to the surrounding area, such as the hall or neighboring rooms). Also referred to as a negative pressure room.
airborne precautions
Used when a client has an infectious agent that can be transmitted through the air should don an N95 mask or a high-level respirator when entering the room of a client.
airborne transmission
Occurs when small particulates move into the airspace of another person.
chain of infection
How bacteria, viruses, fungi, parasites, and prions move from place to place. These are contact, droplet, and airborne.
closed-glove technique
Used to don sterile gloves using surgical asepsis after the individual has performed a surgical hand scrub and donned a sterile gown; hands are kept inside the sterile gown until gloves are donned.
contact precautions
Precautions used when a client has an infectious agent that can be transmitted by direct or indirect contact with body secretions; requires a minimum of gown and gloves prior to client interactions.
direct contact transmission
Occurs when micro-organisms are directly moved from an infected person to another person, rather than through a contaminated object or person.
disinfection
Cleans instruments so that almost all micro-organisms are eradicated, but not all. There are two levels of disinfection: high-level and low-level.
donned
Put on.
droplet precautions
Don a mask when entering the room or coming into close contact with a client.
droplet transmission
Occurs when droplets from the respiratory tract of a client travel through the air and into the mucosa of a host (ex. nurse, other client, healthcare worker).
enhanced barrier precautions
Nursing home staff must wear gown and gloves to prevent transfer of organisms to themselves or their clothing when engaging in certain client care activities.
hand hygiene
Washing your hands with antibacterial soap and water, using alcohol-based gel or foam, or surgical scrub.
health care–associated infections (HAIs)
Infections that are acquired in a health care facility (ex. hospital, nursing home, ambulatory care facility).
incubation
First stage of infection in which the client may not feel ill or have visible manifestations, however there may be lab values that are changes or changes in diagnostic tests such as x-rays or CT scans.
independent gowning
Surgical gowning performed without the aid of another person.
indirect contact transmission
Occurs when microorganisms are directly moved from the infected person to another person with having a contaminated object or person between these two.
infection control bundles
Guidelines for practice that are bundled together to help prevent HAIs such as CAUTIs, CLABSIs, VAPs, and SSIs.
infectious agent
Something that contains bacteria, fungi, virus, parasite, prion.
inflammatory response
Natural defense of the body when injured, when foreign substances are present or when infectious agents attack.
local infections
Are confined to one area of the body.
medical asepsis
Clean technique practices that the reduce the presence of disease-causing micro-organisms on surfaces.
modes of transmission
How bacteria, viruses, fungi, parasites, and prions move from place to place. These are contact, droplet, and airborne.
multidrug-resistant organisms (MDROs)
Bacteria that are resistant to one or more classes of existing antimicrobials.
nonspecific immunity
Comprised of neutrophils and macrophages and their work as phagocytes.
open-glove technique
Used to don sterile gloves using surgical asepsis; gloves are touched directly with the hands.
period of convalescence
Fifth and last stage of infection when client returns to a normal or a new normal state of health.
period of decline
Fourth stage of infection when manifestations begin to wane as the number of infectious disease decreases.
personal protective equipment (PPE)
Specially designed equipment that is meant to protect the health care worker from contamination, blood, or body fluids. This equipment may include masks, eye protection, gown, gloves, and hair caps. Equipment that should be put on (donned) prior to client interactions to prevent the spread of infectious organisms; can include gloves, gowns, masks, eye and face protection, and shoe covers.
phagocytes
Eat and destroy micro-organisms, thereby helping to protect the body from harm.
portal of entry
Any body orifice--for example, ears, nose, mouth, or skin--that provides a place for an infectious agent to replicate or for a toxin to act.
portal of exit
Means by which the infectious agent can leave the reservoir.
prodromal
Stage of infection when client begins having initial manifestations as the infectious agent replicates.
protective isolation
Used during approximately the first 100 days after the transplant, specific engineering and hospital designs that decrease the risk of environmental fungi to the client who had HSCT.
reservoir
Is the habitat of the infectious agent, a location where it can live, grow, and reproduce itself or replicate.
specific immunity
The work of antibodies (also called immunoglobulins) and lymphocytes.
standard precautions
Infection prevention practices and these apply to all clients, whether or not they are known to have an infectious agent.
sterile fields
Created to assure that the smallest number of microorganisms possible are present; used for procedures where surgical asepsis is indicated.
sterile gowning
Gown that is sterile; donned prior to procedures requiring surgical asepsis.
sterilization
Cleaning instruments so that all micro-organisms, including bacterial spores are eradicated.
surgical asepsis
Includes techniques that ensures the sterility of items that will come in contact with the client, through use of equipment such as sterile gloves, in order to prevent pathogen transfer to the client.
susceptible host
Required for the infectious agent to take hold and become a reservoir for infection. Not everyone who is exposed to an infectious agent will get ill. Some people never exhibit manifestations at all but can become colonized (temporarily or permanently) with the infectious agent.
systemic infections
Start as local infections and then transmit into the bloodstream to infect the entire body system.
vector-borne transmission
Transmission of infectious agents through animals, such as an insect or rodent.
vehicle transmission
Transmission of infectious agents to various individuals through a common source, such as contaminated food or water.
virulent
Term to describe how efficient an infectious agent is at making people ill.