Editing Medical-Surgical Nursing (section)

== Infection Prevention ==

Standard precautions apply to every patient regardless of diagnosis and include hand hygiene, gloves for contact with blood and body fluids, and personal protective equipment based on anticipated exposure.

Contact precautions apply to organisms such as ''Clostridioides difficile'', multidrug-resistant organisms, scabies, and draining wounds, and require gown and gloves. For ''C. difficile'', use soap and water for hand hygiene, because alcohol-based rub does not kill spores.

Droplet precautions apply to influenza, pertussis, meningococcal disease, and mumps, and require a surgical mask within about three to six feet, with a private room preferred.

Airborne precautions apply to tuberculosis, measles, and varicella and disseminated zoster, and require a negative pressure room and a fitted N95 respirator or higher.

Nursing application: when donning, the general sequence is gown, mask or respirator, goggles or face shield, then gloves. When doffing, gloves come off first because they are most contaminated, then goggles, then gown, then mask, with hand hygiene performed at the end and whenever hands become contaminated during the process.