Tools and instruments used to puncture or invade the skin must be sterilized or designed to be:

Tools and instruments used to puncture or invade the skin must be sterilized or designed to be:

• A. dull
• B. dirty
• C. porous
• D. disposable

Answer: (D)

Infection control and safety demand that tools piercing the skin are kept sterile between uses or are used only once and discarded. If a tool is reusable, it must be properly sterilized to kill all microorganisms before the next client. When a tool is disposable, it’s designed for one-time use, so there’s no risk of transferring organisms from one person to another. The best answer is disposable because it eliminates any possibility of cross-contamination by ensuring the instrument is discarded after a single use. In contrast, a dull instrument can cause more tissue trauma, a dirty instrument is unsafe, and a porous instrument can harbor microbes and be difficult or impossible to fully sterilize.

Infection control and safety demand that tools piercing the skin are kept sterile between uses or are used only once and discarded. If a tool is reusable, it must be properly sterilized to kill all microorganisms before the next client. When a tool is disposable, it’s designed for one-time use, so there’s no risk of transferring organisms from one person to another.

The best answer is disposable because it eliminates any possibility of cross-contamination by ensuring the instrument is discarded after a single use. In contrast, a dull instrument can cause more tissue trauma, a dirty instrument is unsafe, and a porous instrument can harbor microbes and be difficult or impossible to fully sterilize.