Quiz 1: Role and structure of infection prevention and control programmes

Please choose the one, most correct answer to each question or statement.

1. Infection prevention and control:
   • Aims to prevent infection transmission in the community only
   • Is the duty of care of every healthcare worker
   • Is the responsibility of the healthcare facility manager only
   • Is the sole responsibility of the IPC practitioner.
2. Infection prevention and control programmes:
   • Include activities, procedures and policies to reduce spread of infections
   • Do not form part of quality management programmes
   • Aim to contain the spread of anti-microbial sensitive micro-organisms
   • Exist only in healthcare facilities.
3. Infection prevention and control programmes are needed because:
   • Healthcare workers are lazy and negligent
   • Less than 30% of infections are preventable
   • Sick people congregate in healthcare facilities with potential for micro-organisms to spread
   • Healthcare-associated infections have minimal impact on healthcare costs.
4. Key activities of an infection prevention and control practitioner include:
   • Surveillance, outbreak investigation, training, audits and policy development
   • Running the occupational health service
   • Providing assistance with the quality management programme
   • Working in the laboratory and the sterile services department.
5. Regarding organisation of infection prevention and control management structures:
   • An IPC management structure operates at different levels of the healthcare system
   • All IPC programmes should be run by the national department of health
   • All IPC programmes should be run by individual facility’s IPC committees
   • All IPC programmes should fall under the Quality Management directorate.
6. Who is responsible for implementing infection prevention and control?
   • The healthcare facility manager
   • The healthcare facility’s IPC committee
   • The IPC practitioner
   • All healthcare workers.
7. Ideally, what human resources are needed to run an infection prevention and control programme?
   • An IPC team, consisting of an IPC doctor and IPC nurse practitioners
   • One IPC nurse practitioner for every 500 beds
   • One IPC practitioner per facility, who also performs occupational health duties
   • At least one IPC link nurse per ward or clinical area.
8. The role of the infection prevention and control committee is to:
   • Fill in for the IPC practitioner when they are on leave
   • Advise and assist with management of the IPC programme
   • Investigate outbreaks and make recommendations to facility management
   • Replace the need for a full-time IPC practitioner post.
9. Which categories of healthcare worker require training in infection prevention and control?
   • Clinical workers, e.g. nurses, doctors, physiotherapists
   • Non-clinical workers, e.g. reception staff, porters, cleaners
   • Community-based workers, e.g. community treatment supporters
   • Any healthcare worker who comes into contact with patients and visitors.
10. When should healthcare workers be trained in infection prevention and control?
    • At induction (pre-employment)
    • At undergraduate or pre-service level
    • At pre-service, induction and in-service training
    • Annually in-service.
11. The purpose of an audit in infection prevention and control is:
    • To compare observed practice with a pre-determined standard of care
    • To establish to what extent suggestions have been implemented
    • To achieve continuous quality improvement in healthcare
    • To identify clinical areas that are performing better than others.
12. Before conducting an audit you need to:
    • Inform every staff member in the area being audited, even if management gives permission
    • Agree on the reference standard against which the clinical area will be compared
    • Identify which clinical areas are underperforming
    • Assemble a team of assessors who do not need any prior experience in IPC audits.
13. Policies should be updated or revised:
    • Once a year
    • When a new head of department is appointed, according to their preferences
    • When new evidence emerges, legislation is passed or clinical practices change
    • Whenever healthcare facility management decides the policy is outdated.
14. Policies should be drafted by:
    • The IPC team alone
    • The IPC committee or facility management
    • The national department of health and implemented at facility level
    • The IPC practitioner in consultation with all stakeholders.
15. A standard operating procedure (SOP) is a:
    • Written explanation of how to perform a practical task
    • Guideline on how to operate a piece of medical equipment
    • Tool to assist healthcare workers with low-risk procedures
    • Measure of how well a facility scores compared to a national standard of care.
16. Reports are used in infection prevention and control to:
    • Penalise clinical areas that do not comply with IPC best practice
    • Increase managers’ awareness of IPC problems
    • Provide as much information as possible about the IPC programme activities
    • Document findings and facts about a particular situation, service or practice.
17. Infection prevention and control and occupational health services:
    • Have no common areas of responsibility
    • Should work closely together to ensure the safety of patients, visitors and staff
    • Work together only to prevent occupational TB and needlestick injuries
    • Cannot be staffed by a single IPC/OHS practitioner.
18. Programmes where infection prevention and control and occupational health services should collaborate are:
    • Needlestick injury, occupational TB prevention and related training and policy development
    • Workplace safety using risk assessments
    • Medical examinations of injured or diseased staff
    • Provision of first aid courses for staff.
19. A healthcare facility’s needlestick injury policy:
    • Should be updated every five years
    • Does not need to be included in pre-employment (induction) training
    • Should be easily accessible and understandable to all staff
    • Does not need approval by the facility management.
20. General procedures following a needlestick injury include:
    • Reporting the injury to a supervisor within one week of the incident
    • Commencing post-exposure prophylaxis within 24 hours of the injury
    • Establishing the HIV and hepatitis immune status of the injured staff and the source case
    • Encouraging the wound to bleed by sucking on the injured area.