What is the purpose of standard precautions in infection control, and what is a key practice?

• A. To speed throughput; a key practice is administering vaccines
• B. To prevent transmission of infections; a key practice is hand hygiene before and after patient contact
• C. To reduce costs; a key practice is skipping gloves
• D. To improve patient satisfaction; a key practice is giving coffee to patients

Answer: (B)

Standard precautions are all about stopping the spread of infections in the care setting by treating all blood and body fluids as potentially infectious and applying protective measures with every patient encounter. A fundamental practice is hand hygiene before and after touching a patient, because hands are the most common way germs move between people and surfaces. Using proper handwashing or alcohol-based hand rub at the right times disrupts the transmission chain and supports the use of gloves, PPE, safe injection practices, and surface cleaning. Choices that emphasize throughput, skipping gloves, or unrelated actions don’t align with the goal of preventing transmission through routine contact and exposure.