Problem
This activity will help you to better understand how disinfection works in various health related settings. You will be determining what agent(s) will best suit the situation that is described. Read the questions and give a short answer in the space provided, and be sure to justify your answer. (Note: There may be more than one correct disinfectant.
When that is the case, we ask that you provide two possible disinfectants.)
• You are working as a school nurse, and a child is brought to you because he is symptomatic of a norovirus (the dreaded food poisoning). The child is vomiting and has diarrhea along with a low-grade fever. You must instruct the custodial staff how to handle the mess your sick patient has unfortunately made in the classroom. What antiseptics would you use for the child? What disinfectants would you use for the classroom, the child's clothing, the nurses office, and the hallway?
• A wrestling coach is concerned about a recent MRSA outbreak in the neighboring school district. The regulatory body has shut down the neighboring schools program until disinfection, and inspection of the equipment occurs by the local health department. This coach wants to be proactive about the situation and decided to contact you at the local hospital for advice on how to disinfect his equipment. He also asks you to provide details he can give to his wrestlers on how to reduce the risk of MRSA on their person. Please provide a description of the answer you would give to the wrestling coach.
• You are working in a hospital emergency room. While working in the triage room, you encounter a patient who has a severe case of Tinea corporis (ringworm). The patient in question has the fungus on his trunk and torso as well as his back and buttocks. What disinfectant would be recommended to destroy this fungus in the waiting room, triage, and in the patient's home?
• While working on an ambulance, you treat a patient with a gunshot wound that entered and exited through the quadriceps. The wound is bleeding, and an artery was hit. You manage to place pressure on the wound and transport the patient to the hospital. When you return to the garage, you notice that blood spatter is all over the interior of the ambulance. What do you disinfect the ambulance with?
• While working on the medical-surgical floor of the local hospital, you encounter a patient whose wound vac is leaking on the floor. The suction is still in place, but the storage container for the material removed from the wound is damaged. The biohazardous material is on the bed linens, the bed mattress, and the floor. What method of disinfection is appropriate?