Exposure
Contact with an infectious agent through skin, mucous membrane, needle stick, or body fluid that creates a risk of disease transmission.
Expect a needlestick scenario asking your first action, and beware the tempting wrong answers: “squeeze the site” or “call the provider” lose to decontaminating at the source — wash the puncture with soap and water and flush mucous membranes/eyes with water or saline. The exam penalizes squeezing/milking the wound and scrubbing with bleach or caustic antiseptics as tissue-damaging myths. After first aid, the priority is identifying the source patient and drawing baseline serology on both worker and source, since the source’s HIV/HBV/HCV status drives whether HIV PEP is indicated. For an unvaccinated worker exposed to HBsAg-positive blood, the answer is HBIG plus starting the hepatitis B vaccine series — not antiretrovirals (a confirmed non-responder gets HBIG, not a fresh series).
Don’t confuse exposure (the contact event) with transmission (the pathogen actually moving into a host) or infection — exposure is only a risk, and most do not seroconvert. Likewise separate it from contamination, a soiled object or breached sterile field, not skin/mucosal contact. Memory hook: “Wash, Report, Test, Treat.”
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