✨ Featured Lessons · Lesson 3 of 8 · 60 sec
My Chicken Hez TB: Isolation in 60 Seconds
😷 Four classic diseases need the special room with the N95 and the closed door. A silly sentence makes them impossible to forget.
💡 Key idea
Airborne: measles, chickenpox, zoster, TB. Droplet: a surgical mask on entering the room. Contact: gown and gloves, soap and water for C. diff.
🧠 Why it matters
AIRBORNE: My Chicken Hez TB, which is Measles, Chickenpox (varicella), Herpes zoster when disseminated, and Tuberculosis; these need a negative-pressure room and an N95 respirator. DROPLET: think of the things you catch from a sneeze at close range, such as influenza, pertussis, mumps, rubella and meningococcal meningitis, and put on a surgical mask as you enter the room. CONTACT: MRSA, VRE, C. difficile, scabies and RSV need a gown and gloves, and C. diff requires soap and water because alcohol cannot kill spores.
🏥 In the real world
🧼 A nurse uses alcohol gel after caring for a client with C. diff, then holds a newborn. Spores do not care about alcohol. The soap-and-water rule is one of the few places where the old-fashioned answer is the only right one.
📌 Takeaways
- Airborne needs N95 plus negative pressure
- Droplet needs a surgical mask on entering the room
- Contact needs gown and gloves; C. diff needs soap and water
📖 Terms in this lesson
MY CHICKEN HEZ TB (airborne precautions): My = Measles, Chicken = Chickenpox (varicella), Hez = Herpes zoster when disseminated, TB = Tuberculosis: the diseases that need an N95 respirator and a negative-pressure room.
✅ Test yourself
Which client requires an N95 respirator and a negative-pressure room?
- A client with measles
- A client with scabies
- A client with influenza
- A client with MRSA in a wound
Answer: A · A client with measles
Measles is airborne. Influenza is droplet; MRSA and scabies are contact.
After caring for a client with C. difficile, how should the nurse clean her hands?
- Alcohol-based hand rub
- Gloves alone are sufficient
- Soap and water
- A chlorhexidine wipe
Answer: C · Soap and water
C. diff spores resist alcohol; washing physically removes them.
NCLEX-style questions, XP and streaks in the app. No sign-up needed.
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