Apply standard precautions to body fluids
Every patient, every time, no exceptions and no sorting. Learn why the protection is chosen from the task in front of you rather than from what you know about the person.
- You cannot tell by looking: An infection that is transmissible through blood produces no reliable outward sign, so appearance and history are not a screening method.
- The route of exposure decides the protection: Contact needs gloves. Spraying adds eyes and airway. Soaking adds clothing. The task tells you which, before the patient does.
Prerequisites are inferred: pending teacher review.
Re-learn the skill with worked practice and clear examples.
Now apply the rule where it is inconvenient, and where somebody offers you a reason to skip it.
During a first aid scenario a classmate with a bleeding hand says 'you know me, you do not need gloves for this.' What is the correct response?
Reviewed- A.Ask about their medical history and then decide
- B.Put gloves on anyway; familiarity changes nothing
- C.Skip the gloves, since consent has been given by the person involved
- D.Skip the gloves but wash thoroughly straight afterwards
Show the worked solution ▾
Answer: B. Put gloves on anyway; familiarity changes nothing
- Step 1: Ask what the offer changes: Nothing biological. It changes only how awkward it feels to put gloves on.
- Step 2: Apply the rule that does not need a judgement: Every patient, every time, means there is no decision to be made here.
Why it's right: Knowing someone tells you nothing about what their blood carries, and often they do not know either. The precaution applies to everyone precisely so this conversation does not have to happen.
- A: A history taken on the spot is unverified, may be incomplete, and singles the person out for questioning that changes nothing about what you should do.
- C: The risk here is to you, and the other person cannot consent on your behalf to an exposure you would be taking.
- D: Washing afterwards helps and does not undo an exposure that has already happened through broken skin.
Aligned to Handling, Preparation, Storage and Disposal · reading level ~grade 9
A student has a fresh graze across one knuckle and is about to help with a task involving blood. What should happen before gloves go on?
Reviewed- A.The graze is covered with a waterproof dressing
- B.The graze is washed and left open so it can dry out
- C.Nothing at all, since gloves already cover the whole hand
- D.A second pair of gloves is worn on that hand only
Show the worked solution ▾
Answer: A. The graze is covered with a waterproof dressing
- Step 1: Ask what a graze is: A gap in the barrier that everything else depends on.
- Step 2: Ask what a glove failure would then mean: Any tear or leak puts material straight against an opening rather than against intact skin.
Why it's right: A graze is a gap in the barrier the gloves sit on top of. If a glove tears or leaks, material meets an opening rather than intact skin, so the gap is closed first.
- B: Leaving a wound open keeps the gap open. Drying it does nothing about what could reach it.
- C: Gloves cover the hand and can tear or leak, and the whole point of covering the graze is what happens when they do.
- D: Double gloving reduces the chance of a tear reaching skin and still leaves the graze uncovered underneath both layers.
Aligned to Handling, Preparation, Storage and Disposal · reading level ~grade 9
- A student runs the Activity 3.2.3 bleeding control task on a partner and gloves up regardless of knowing them.
Fill these in as you work through the lesson.
- Standard precautions (the same care for every patient):
- Blood-borne pathogen (an infection carried in blood):
- Escalate (add protection as the risk rises):
- Broken skin (a cut or graze, your own barrier gap):
Protection is chosen from the in front of you, not from what you know about the , and your own broken skin is before you start.
- Give two reasons you cannot sort patients into risky and safe.
- Name the task that would make you add eye protection to gloves.
- Say what you do about a graze on your own hand before a task with blood.
You are applying pressure to a bleeding arm. Gloves are the minimum for any contact with blood. If the bleeding is under pressure and could spray, eye protection goes on too, and if it could soak through what you are wearing, so does a gown. Nothing in that reasoning required knowing anything about the patient.