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Difficulty: EasyEmergency Response and Hazardous Materials

An agricultural worker arrives at a rural outpatient clinic with clothing completely soaked in an unknown liquid pesticide. The client requires immediate decontamination. Which action must the practical nurse take first?

  1. Put on the appropriate personal protective equipment.Answer
  2. B
    Assess the client's airway and baseline vital signs.
  3. C
    Delegate the decontamination task to unlicensed assistive personnel.
  4. D
    Remove the client's contaminated clothing by pulling it over their head.

Answer

Put on the appropriate personal protective equipment.
In any hazardous material or chemical exposure incident, the primary responsibility of the nurse is to ensure their own safety to prevent becoming a secondary victim. Putting on the correct personal protective equipment must occur before making any physical contact with the contaminated client.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the presence of a hazardous material.
The nurse recognizes the client is soaked in an unknown pesticide, which poses an immediate exposure risk.
Recognizing the hazard determines the protocol that must be followed.
2
Determine the highest priority in a hazardous material incident.
The nurse identifies that provider and scene safety must take precedence over direct client care.
If the nurse becomes exposed, they become a secondary victim and can no longer assist the client.
3
Select the correct initial intervention.
The nurse decides to don personal protective equipment before approaching or touching the client.
Appropriate barrier protection prevents the transfer of the hazardous chemical to the nurse.

Key Concept

Provider Safety and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) in Hazardous Exposures
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Topics

Emergency Response and Hazardous Materials

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