Patient Care Technician Certification (PCTC) AMCA Practice Exam

Which type of precautions should be used for a patient that has pulmonary tuberculosis?

1. Contact precautions

2. Airborne precautions

3. Droplet precautions

4. Standard precautions

The correct answer is: Airborne precautions

Airborne precautions are essential for the care of patients with pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) because TB is primarily transmitted through the air via respiratory droplets. When a person with active TB coughs, sneezes, or even talks, they can release tiny infectious particles into the air that can be inhaled by others. Utilizing airborne precautions involves several strategies to minimize the risk of transmission. Health care facilities typically require that patients with suspected or confirmed active TB be placed in a negative pressure room to prevent the escape of infectious air. Healthcare workers and visitors are also required to wear specialized masks, such as N95 respirators, to provide a higher level of protection against inhalation of airborne particles. While standard precautions are generally used in all clinical settings to reduce the risk of transmission of infections, they alone are not sufficient to protect against airborne pathogens like TB. Contact and droplet precautions address different modes of transmission: contact precautions aim to prevent transmission through direct or indirect contact, while droplet precautions focus on larger respiratory droplets. However, neither of these is adequate for airborne transmission, which is why airborne precautions are the correct and necessary approach for managing patients with pulmonary tuberculosis.