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CRCST Patient Care Equipment and Distribution practice questions

Cleaning, inspecting, testing, tracking and distributing reusable patient care equipment such as pumps and compression devices, including electrical safety and preventive maintenance tags. This domain is about 5% of the exam. Try each question, then open the answer.

Read the Patient Care Equipment and Distribution study guide

Question 1

An infusion pump comes back to SPD from a patient room with the IV tubing still loaded. Wearing PPE, what should the technician do first?
  1. Remove and discard the tubing and other single-use items
  2. Wipe the pump down with the tubing in place to save time
  3. Flush the tubing so it can be used on the next patient
  4. Send it to clean storage and remove the tubing when it is issued
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Answer: A. Remove and discard the tubing and other single-use items

Disposable items such as tubing, cassettes, canisters and sleeves are removed and discarded first, following bloodborne pathogen precautions. Only then can every surface of the equipment be cleaned and disinfected.

Source: HSPA Sterile Processing Technical Manual, 9th ed. (2023), Ch. 20, The Role of Sterile Processing in Ancillary Department Support (topic: removing consumables)

Question 2

During processing, a technician notices that a PCA pump's preventive maintenance sticker shows the inspection due date has passed. The pump looks clean and works. What should happen?
  1. Issue it, since it looks clean and works normally
  2. Write a new due date on the sticker and issue it
  3. Pull it from service and send it to biomedical engineering for inspection
  4. Issue it, but ask the nurse to monitor it closely during use
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Answer: C. Pull it from service and send it to biomedical engineering for inspection

Equipment must have a current preventive maintenance (PM) or inspection sticker before it is issued. If the sticker is missing or out of date, the device is removed from service, tagged and sent to biomedical engineering.

Source: HSPA Sterile Processing Technical Manual, 9th ed. (2023), Ch. 20, The Role of Sterile Processing in Ancillary Department Support (topic: preventive maintenance)

Question 3

After cleaning an IV pump in the equipment decontamination area, a technician sets it down next to the soiled pumps waiting to be cleaned. Why is this a problem?
  1. Clean pumps belong in sterile storage with the instrument trays
  2. It can be recontaminated; clean items belong in a separate area
  3. It is a problem only if the soiled pumps have visible blood
  4. There is no problem as long as the clean pump is clearly labeled
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Answer: B. It can be recontaminated; clean items belong in a separate area

Patient care equipment should follow one-way flow from soiled to clean, the same as instruments. Placing a cleaned pump among soiled ones risks cross-contamination, so it moves to a separate clean area where it is covered and labeled clean.

Source: HSPA Sterile Processing Technical Manual, 9th ed. (2023), Ch. 20, The Role of Sterile Processing in Ancillary Department Support (topic: one-way work flow and clean equipment storage)

Question 4

The IFU for an infusion pump calls for an operational check before the pump is stored. The pump powers on and passes its self-test, but the occlusion alarm does not sound during the check. What should the technician do?
  1. Return it to clean storage, since the self-test passed
  2. Tag it with the failure and send it to biomedical engineering
  3. Issue it with a note asking the nurse to watch the line closely
  4. Repeat the check until the alarm sounds once, then issue it
Show answer

Answer: B. Tag it with the failure and send it to biomedical engineering

Function testing follows the equipment IFU. Any failed check, such as an alarm that does not sound, means the device is removed from service. It is tagged with the specific problem and sent to biomedical engineering.

Source: HSPA Sterile Processing Technical Manual, 9th ed. (2023), Ch. 20, The Role of Sterile Processing in Ancillary Department Support (topic: function testing)

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