NCLEX Safety and Infection Prevention and Control Review

Under the 2026 test plans the subcategory is named Safety and Infection Prevention and Control, and it carries 10 to 16 percent of items on both the NCLEX-RN and the NCLEX-PN. The RN plan defines it as protecting clients and health care personnel from health and environmental hazards.

The related content is broad. The RN plan lists these areas, and it is worth checking each against your own confidence level.

The CDC describes Standard Precautions as the practices used for all patient care, based on a risk assessment. They include hand hygiene, using personal protective equipment whenever exposure to infectious material is expected, respiratory hygiene and cough etiquette, appropriate patient placement, cleaning and disinfecting equipment and the environment, careful handling of textiles and laundry, and safe injection practices, including careful handling of needles.

One detail that surprises people: the CDC's list also calls for wearing a surgical mask when performing a lumbar puncture. Exam items reward this kind of specific knowledge because it separates careful study from general impressions.

The CDC states that alcohol-based hand sanitizer is preferred over soap and water in most clinical situations unless hands are visibly soiled. Soap and water is the choice when hands are visibly soiled, before eating, after using the restroom, and when caring for patients with suspected or confirmed infection during outbreaks of C. difficile or norovirus.

The CDC also says to perform hand hygiene before putting on gloves when a task requires them, and always after removing gloves. Gloves are not a substitute for clean hands, and exam distractors often lean on that misconception.

The CDC calls transmission-based precautions the second tier of infection control, used in addition to Standard Precautions, never instead of them. There are three categories.

The CDC's poster gives one order for putting on protective equipment: gown first, then mask or respirator, then goggles or face shield, then gloves, with the gloves extended over the gown's wrists.

For removal, the CDC shows more than one acceptable method. Its first example removes gloves, then goggles or face shield, then gown, then mask or respirator, followed immediately by hand hygiene. All equipment comes off before leaving the room except a respirator, which is removed after leaving and closing the door. The CDC also advises hand hygiene between steps if hands become contaminated. The logic to remember is that the most contaminated items come off first and the front of the mask or respirator is never touched.

Scenario one, invented for this page: a client is admitted with a cough, night sweats and weight loss, and tuberculosis is suspected. Before anything else, the client needs placement in an airborne infection isolation room, and staff entering need fit-tested respirators. A regular private room with a surgical mask for staff would not meet airborne precautions.

Scenario two: a client with diarrhea from a confirmed C. difficile infection is on contact precautions during a unit outbreak. A new assistive personnel member uses hand sanitizer after leaving the room. The correct response is to explain that soap and water is the CDC's recommendation for this situation, then check whether the rest of the contact precautions are being followed.

Scenario three: you notice a frayed power cord on an infusion pump at a client's bedside. The test plan's safe equipment content points to removing malfunctioning equipment from the client care area and reporting it to the appropriate personnel, while making sure the client's infusion continues safely on working equipment.

Make one comparison table for the three transmission-based categories with columns for room, protective equipment, transport and example diseases, and rewrite it from memory until it is automatic. Then move to the areas candidates skim: restraints, disaster triage, incident reporting and hazardous materials. These appear in the test plan just as clearly as isolation does.

Some listed topics are narrow enough to master in one sitting. The RN plan names safe implementation of internal radiation therapy under hazardous materials, correct use of infant and child car seats under injury prevention, and determining which clients could be recommended for discharge during a disaster under emergency response. For restraints, it asks you to judge whether a device is appropriate, follow the requirements for using it and monitor the client's response. Write a one-line rule for each of these topics and test yourself on it before moving on to the larger areas.

RetakePrep's 30-question diagnostic will show where this area ranks against your other topics, and the resulting plan puts your weakest areas first at 20 minutes a day.