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CME & Education

Pre-Activity Questionnaire

Unsafe Injection Practices: Outbreaks, Incidents, and Root Causes

You are orienting a new nurse on safe injection practices. Which of the following would you tell her?

It is safe to administer medications and fluids from 1 syringe to multiple patients, provided that the needle is changed between each use

A syringe is considered contaminated once it is used to access a patient's intravenous (IV) catheter tubing, even if the needle is changed before reusing the syringe for another patient

The absence of visible cloudiness or blood in a vial or bag indicates that the medication or solution is free from contamination

It is safe to reuse a syringe that was used to enter a one-way valve on a patient's IV catheter, provided that the valve is cleaned with an alcohol swab and the needle is changed
You are the manager of an outpatient oncology center where patients routinely receive chemotherapy, which requires that ports be flushed with saline during the procedure. You ask one of your staff to describe how she performs this procedure. She tells you that she accesses the port and then uses a new syringe and a new needle to withdraw saline from an open multidose vial that is kept for use by the nurses in the patient treatment area. She then flushes the port with the saline. Which of the following items should you tell her may be contaminated?

Vial and needle

Vial, needle, and syringe

Needle and syringe

Needle