Standard precautions are used with every resident care activity to prevent the spread of infection from whom?

• A. All residents and all staff
• B. Only contagious residents
• C. Only during invasive procedures
• D. Only when gloves are worn

Answer: (A)

Standard precautions are the baseline set of infection prevention measures used with every resident care activity to prevent transmission. Because you can’t reliably know who might be carrying an infection, the safest approach is to treat all residents and all staff as potential sources of infection. This means consistent hand hygiene, and using appropriate PPE (gloves, gown, mask, eye protection) based on the task and exposure risk, along with proper handling of sharps and safe environmental cleaning. Gloves are important, but they aren’t the whole story—hand hygiene before and after glove use and the use of other PPE when indicated are essential to prevent spread during any resident interaction. Since pathogens can be present in blood, body fluids, mucous membranes, or on non‑intact skin, precautions apply to everyone involved, not just those who are visibly contagious or during specific procedures.