Editing Infection Control and Safety – RN Practice Questions (section)

==Question 11==
'''Select all that apply.''' A nurse is establishing a sterile field for a central line dressing change. Which observations indicate that the field has been '''contaminated'''?
# A bottle of sterile saline is set down within the outer 1-inch border of the drape.
# The nurse turns away from the field to answer a colleague's question.
# The nurse holds a sterile gauze package above waist level while opening it.
# A small amount of saline soaks through the drape onto the overbed table.
# The nurse opens the first flap of the sterile package away from the body.

'''Answer:''' 1, 2, and 4.

''Rationale:'' The outer 1-inch border of a sterile field is considered contaminated, so items placed there are not sterile. A sterile field must remain in view at all times; turning the back contaminates it. Moisture soaking through the drape onto an unsterile surface produces strike-through contamination. Options 3 and 5 describe correct technique: sterile items are kept above waist level, and the first flap is opened away from the body.