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Infection Control and Standard Precautions
Treat every patient as potentially infectious, and add contact, droplet, or airborne precautions when needed.
The rule
Standard precautions apply to every patient, whatever the diagnosis. Treat blood, all body fluids except sweat, nonintact skin, and mucous membranes as potentially infectious. The core actions are hand hygiene before and after patient contact, gloves when touching body fluids, more protective equipment when splashes are likely, safe handling of sharps, and cleaning equipment between patients. Never recap a used needle.