MMStandardPrecautions

​Standard Precautions for the Laboratory

By Ms. Molina

​Essential Question: How do we prevent illness while handling microbes?

The Sneeze

Open Ended

Describe some ways we could limit the spread of communicable diseases

Organisms in this class

We will be handling organisms in this class that are in a more concentrated area than the sneeze.


Learning about standard precautions allows us to keep safe and limit unnecessarily spreading bacteria and other organisms.

Key Terms

Asepsis: the state of being free of living pathogenic microorganisms or the process of removing pathogenic microorganisms or protecting against infection by such organisms

Standard precautions: guidelines recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for reducing the risk of transmission of blood-borne and other pathogens in hospitals

Biohazard: anything that is a risk to organisms, such as ionizing radiation or harmful bacteria or viruses

Carriers // fomites: an inanimate object or material on which disease-producing agents may be conveyed

Nosocomial infection: an infection that can be acquired in a hospital that maybe evident up to 72 hours after leaving the hospital

Standard Precautions are infection control guidelines

Recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for reducing the risk of transmission of blood-borne and other pathogens in hospitals.

They synthesize the major features of universal precautions (designed to reduce the risk of transmission of blood borne pathogens) and body substance isolation (designed to reduce the risk of pathogens from moist body substances) and apply them to all patients receiving care in hospitals regardless of their diagnosis or presumed infection status.

Standard Precautions apply to

a. blood

b. all body fluids, secretions, and excretions except sweat, regardless of whether or not they contain blood;

c. non-intact skin

d. mucous membranes

The precautions are designed to reduce the risk of transmission

of microorganisms from both recognized and unrecognized

sources of infection in hospital

Universal Precautions

Methods of infection control in which all human blood, certain body

fluids, as well as fresh tissues and cells of human origin are handled

as if they are known to be infected with HIV, HBV, and/or other

blood-borne pathogens

4 Main Disposal Options

1. Biohazard Sharps containers – used for anything that could puncture a plastic bag that has been visibly soiled

4 Main Disposal Options

2. Biohazard Bag s– or ‘red’ bags – used for anything visibly soiled with blood, body fluids, or soiled with microorganisms; locations pay for disposal and autoclaving of sharps, biohazard bags and tissue samples; check with local labs to see if they have more specific rules for what is discarded in these containers

4 Main Disposal Options

3. “Regular” trash – any normal trash or things that are not visibly

soiled, i.e., gloves or masks used but not soiled; some labs put

anything in contact with microorganisms into the biohazard bag

4 Main Disposal Options

4. Reusable supplies – often sent through an autoclave under very high temperature and pressure from steam to sterilize; some items may be laundered in high temperatures to properly disinfect them

Multiple Choice

What would you do to properly dispose of the following supplies?

1. used phlebotomy (to draw blood) needle

• biohazard sharps container

• biohazard bag

• regular trash

• reusable supplies

Multiple Choice

What would you do to properly dispose of the following supplies?

2. used gram stain glass slide

• biohazard sharps container

• biohazard bag

• regular trash

• reusable supplies

Multiple Choice

What would you do to properly dispose of the following supplies?

3. disposable gloves visibly soiled

• biohazard sharps container

• biohazard bag

• regular trash

• reusable supplies

Multiple Choice

What would you do to properly dispose of the following supplies?

4. disposable mask used by a lab tech for 1 day

• biohazard sharps container

• biohazard bag

• regular trash

• reusable supplies

Multiple Choice

What would you do to properly dispose of the following supplies?

5. cloth lab coat used in microbiology for a week

• biohazard sharps container

• biohazard bag

• regular trash

• reusable supplies

Multiple Choice

What would you do to properly dispose of the following supplies?

6. metal forceps used to place discs on agar plates of bacteria

• biohazard sharps container

• biohazard bag

• regular trash

• reusable supplies

Multiple Choice

What would you do to properly dispose of the following supplies?

7. papers used last week in the micro lab that are no longer

needed

• biohazard sharps container

• biohazard bag

• regular trash

• reusable supplies