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Sterile Technique & Infection Control Cheat Sheet
A printable reference covering hand hygiene, PPE, aseptic technique, sterilization, disinfection, isolation precautions, and chain of infection for grades 11-12.
Sterile technique and infection control are essential skills for protecting patients, health care workers, and communities from preventable disease transmission. This cheat sheet covers the core rules used in clinical settings, including hand hygiene, PPE, aseptic technique, sterilization, and isolation precautions. Students need these concepts to understand safe medical practice and to prepare for labs, simulations, and health science careers. The most important idea is that microorganisms spread through a chain of infection that can be interrupted at several points. Sterile technique prevents contamination of sterile items, while medical asepsis reduces the number and spread of pathogens. Correct hand hygiene, proper PPE use, clean-to-dirty workflow, and safe handling of sharps and body fluids are the foundation of infection control.
Key Facts
- The chain of infection is infectious agent, reservoir, portal of exit, mode of transmission, portal of entry, and susceptible host.
- Break the chain of infection by removing or blocking at least one link, such as using hand hygiene to reduce mode of transmission.
- Use soap and water for at least 20 seconds when hands are visibly soiled or after contact with spores such as Clostridioides difficile.
- Use alcohol-based hand sanitizer with 60% to 95% alcohol when hands are not visibly soiled and rub until completely dry.
- Sterile field rule: only sterile items may touch sterile items, and any unknown or wet item is considered contaminated.
- PPE removal order is usually gloves, gown, hand hygiene, eye protection, mask or respirator, then hand hygiene again.
- Standard precautions apply to all patients because blood, body fluids, non-intact skin, and mucous membranes may contain pathogens.
- Cleaning removes visible soil, disinfection kills many pathogens on surfaces, and sterilization destroys all microorganisms including spores.
Vocabulary
- Asepsis
- Asepsis is the practice of reducing or preventing contamination by disease-causing microorganisms.
- Sterile Technique
- Sterile technique is a set of procedures that keeps equipment and areas free from all microorganisms.
- Pathogen
- A pathogen is a microorganism, such as a bacterium, virus, fungus, or parasite, that can cause disease.
- Personal Protective Equipment
- Personal protective equipment is clothing or gear such as gloves, gowns, masks, respirators, and eye protection used to reduce exposure to hazards.
- Transmission-Based Precautions
- Transmission-based precautions are extra infection control steps used for diseases spread by contact, droplets, or airborne particles.
- Sterilization
- Sterilization is a process that destroys all forms of microbial life, including bacterial spores.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Touching a sterile item with clean but nonsterile gloves is wrong because clean gloves reduce microbes but are not sterile.
- Reaching across a sterile field is wrong because clothing, sleeves, or skin can pass over and contaminate sterile supplies.
- Using hand sanitizer on visibly dirty hands is wrong because soil and organic material can prevent the sanitizer from reaching microorganisms.
- Removing a mask before removing contaminated gloves is wrong because the gloves may transfer pathogens to the face or mask straps.
- Confusing disinfection with sterilization is wrong because disinfected items may still contain spores or resistant microorganisms.
Practice Questions
- 1 A student washes their hands for 8 seconds before putting on gloves. What is the minimum recommended handwashing time with soap and water, and how many more seconds are needed?
- 2 A disinfectant label says a surface must stay wet for 3 minutes. If the surface dries after 90 seconds, how many additional seconds of wet contact time are required?
- 3 During PPE removal, a student removes eye protection with contaminated gloves, then touches their face. Identify the error and state the safer sequence.
- 4 Why can a sterile field be considered contaminated if no one saw it being touched?