Question

The nurse is providing care to a group of clients. What priority action by the nurse can help decrease the spread of infection to this client group?

A. Have the client wear a mask whenever care is delivered
B. Administer prophylactic antibiotics to all clients.
C. Wash hands when entering and leaving client rooms.
D. Wear gloves whenever delivering client care.

Answer 1

The priority action a nurse can take to decrease infection spread among clients is handwashing when entering and leaving client rooms.

Step-by-step explanation:

The priority action by the nurse that can help decrease the spread of infection to this client group is washing hands when entering and leaving client rooms (Option C). Handwashing is recognized by health authorities as the single most important practice for preventing the transmission of infectious agents. It significantly reduces the carriage of potential pathogens that can be transferred from one individual to another through direct contact or via contaminated surfaces.

While wearing gloves and masks can be helpful in certain situations, the universal and consistent practice of thorough handwashing is more critical in all clinical settings. Health-care workers specifically should wash their hands thoroughly between every client contact, after the removal of gloves, after contact with bodily fluids, and before and after certain procedures. Hand hygiene is a cornerstone of infection control practices in healthcare facilities.

Glove usage is necessary for certain procedures, but it is not an alternative to handwashing because gloves can have microtears or become contaminated during use. Masks can be useful to prevent droplet transmission, especially in the case of respiratory infections; however, they are not always required for every client-care interaction in the context of a range of infectious diseases. Prophylactic antibiotics could lead to antibiotic resistance and are therefore not routinely administered to prevent infections in all clients.