Infection Prevention and Control
Hand Hygiene Interactive Learning Module: Final Quiz
Healthy Hands Quiz – Answer Key
The correct answers are green.
The incorrect answers are in red.
1. How do you degerm your hands?
a) Use bleach
b) Remove visible dirt from your hands. This would be “degriming”
c) Both washing with antimicrobial soap and using alcohol hand rub
d) Use only alcohol hand rub. Antimicrobial soap will work too.
e) Use only antimicrobial soap. Alcohol hand rub will work too.
2. Staph aureus are bacteria that are most commonly found in/on your:
a) Mouth and skin
b) Skin and nose
c) Skin and throat
d) Intestines and skin
e) Intestines and throat
3. An example of ‘direct transmission’ is germs moving between you and:
a) Chart room snacks: Indirect transmission
b) A doorknob: Indirect transmission
c) A blood pressure cuff: Indirect transmission
d) Another person
e) Patient charts: Indirect transmission
4. True or False: You should do hand hygiene…
a) Before using gloves
True or False
b) Before giving an injection True or False
c) Between patient rooms
True or False
d) After using gloves
True or False
e) After eating a snack
True or False: Either answer is okay – you should definitely do
hand hygiene before eating anything.
5. How much alcohol hand rub should you use in order to do hand hygiene?
a) About the size of a dime
b) Enough to keep your hands wet while rubbing for 15 seconds The amount you need depends on
the size of your hands and how dry your skin is to begin with.
c) Enough to cover the palms of your hands
d) About the size of a twoonie
e) So much that the alcohol hand rub is dripping onto the floor
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December 8, 2014
Infection Prevention and Control
Hand Hygiene Interactive Learning Module: Final Quiz
6. What should you do for hand hygiene if your patient has diarrhea?
a) Hand washing with plain soap: Best answer
b) Hand washing with antimicrobial soap: The antimicrobial soap has no more activity against C. difficile
spores than regular soap but is much harsher on your skin.
c) Alcohol hand rub: Not effective against C. difficile spores.
d) Gloves and alcohol hand rub: You can never assume that gloves do not have microperforations or that
they are an absolute barrier.
e) Hand washing with any kind of soap: Also correct, just not the best answer.
7. Where can you pick up bugs on your hands?
a) Public settings like buses or trains
b) Your bathroom at home
c) Changing an infected wound dressing
d) Touching a patient’s wheelchair
e) Everywhere! Therefore, all of the above are correct!
8. What hand hygiene product causes the least damage to healthy skin?
a) Antimicrobial soap: This is the harshest product.
b) Alcohol hand rub
c) Plain soap: Soap removes grease from your hands and also strips away natural moisture from your
skin.
d) Water: Not technically a hand hygiene product.
e) Paper towels: These are actually quite abrasive; you should always pat your hands dry with paper
towel, rather than rubbing.
9. Why should you use the Calgary Health Region lotion?
a) It’s a petroleum lotion that is compatible with the soap and the gloves
b) The product cannot get contaminated by the dispenser: No dispenser is absolutely guaranteed to
eliminate the risk of contamination.
c) It’s free – why pay for your own?
d) Because it’s there
e) Because it’s foamy
10. Why is alcohol hand rub encouraged for most hand hygiene?
a) It’s easier on hands: that “build-up” feeling is emollients that restore moisture to your skin.
b) It’s more convenient than sinks: you can take it anywhere
c) It’s faster than hand washing: 15 seconds vs. 2-3 minutes
d) It can kill a greater proportion of germs than soap
e) All of the above
11. What are visiting germs?
a) Germs that will always cause infections where they arrive on your body
b) Germs that are carried on your hands and skin and may lead to an infection
c) Germs that don’t get the hint when it’s time to go home
d) Germs that “hang out” on your hands and skin, but don’t cause you harm: These are “colonizing” germs
e) Germs that normally live in and on your body, and may cause an infection: These are your “normal
flora”
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