Patient Safety Guidelines Flashcards
7 cards from real DHA practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 Patient Safety Guidelines flashcards as text
When using the SBAR communication tool, what does the 'R' stand for?
Answer: Recommendation
In SBAR, 'R' stands for Recommendation, where the communicator suggests what action should be taken to address the patient's situation.
A patient with a known penicillin allergy is inadvertently prescribed amoxicillin. Which system-level safeguard should have caught this error?
Answer: Clinical decision support alert in the electronic health record
Clinical decision support systems embedded in EHRs are designed to flag drug allergy conflicts at the point of prescribing before orders are processed.
According to patient safety principles, which situation represents a 'latent condition' contributing to errors?
Answer: Insufficient staffing ratios established by hospital administration
Latent conditions are systemic, organizational factors such as understaffing that create environments where errors are more likely to occur.
Under the DHA Patient Rights Framework, a patient has the right to refuse treatment. If a competent adult refuses a life-saving blood transfusion, the healthcare team should:
Answer: Respect the refusal, document it, and ensure the patient understands the consequences
A competent adult patient has the legal and ethical right to refuse treatment; the team must document the refusal, ensure informed understanding, and respect the decision.
Which of the following is the most appropriate action when a healthcare worker sustains a needlestick injury from a known HIV-positive patient?
Answer: Report to occupational health immediately and initiate post-exposure prophylaxis within 72 hours
Post-exposure prophylaxis must be initiated as soon as possible, ideally within 2 hours and no later than 72 hours, following immediate reporting to occupational health.
A patient is found unresponsive in the bathroom. Which principle of patient safety best explains why bed rails and call bells should have been within reach?
Answer: Risk anticipation and fall prevention
Risk anticipation involves proactively identifying environmental hazards and implementing preventive measures such as accessible call bells to reduce patient falls.
Which element is essential for a Root Cause Analysis (RCA) to be effective after a sentinel event?
Answer: Examining the entire system, including human factors and processes
An effective RCA examines all contributing system factors, human factors, and processes rather than focusing on individual blame, to develop meaningful corrective actions.