Learn It
Live It
Share ItInfection Prevention and Home Safety
in the Academy
🧼 Welcome, Caregiver!
Clean hands, clean home, safe client. This module is about 8 classroom-equivalent hours across the video lesson, this eBook and practice.
By the end you can
- Perform hand hygiene at the right times
- Use gloves and other protective equipment as directed
- Spot and reduce safety hazards in a home
🪙 You earn LEARN It coins as you turn the pages, and a chapter badge when you reach each section.
Infection Prevention and Home Safety
The chain of infection
Germs spread from a source, through a way out, a way to travel (hands, air, objects), a way in, to a person who can get sick. Breaking any link stops the spread. Clean hands break the most links.
Hand hygiene
Clean your hands when you arrive, before and after touching the client, before clean tasks like meals, after contact with body fluids, after removing gloves and before you leave. Use soap and water for at least 20 seconds when hands are visibly dirty.
Standard precautions
Treat all blood and body fluids as if they could carry germs. Wear gloves when you might touch them. Change gloves between tasks and clean your hands after you take them off. Use a gown, mask or eye protection when the care plan or your agency says to.
Infection Prevention and Home Safety continued
A clean, healthy home
Clean from clean areas to dirty areas. Keep the client's dishes, linens and bathroom clean. Bag soiled items and handle laundry away from your body. Throw sharps only into a sharps container. Never recap needles.
A safe home
Check for trip hazards, poor lighting, blocked exits, unsafe cords, missing smoke alarms and unsafe space heaters. Store chemicals away from food. Report hazards you cannot fix to your supervisor. Know two ways out in case of fire.
Words Caregivers Use
Cleaning hands with soap and water or an alcohol-based hand rub.
Infection rules used with every client, every time.
Personal protective equipment, such as gloves, gowns, masks and eye protection.
A hard, labeled container for used needles and lancets.
Laundry day at the Lees'
Mr. Lee had an accident in bed overnight. The sheets are soiled, and his daughter left a space heater on next to the bed.
Your care steps
- Clean your hands and put on gloves
- Turn off and move the space heater away from the bed
- Remove soiled linens by rolling them inward, away from your body
- Bag the linens, remove gloves and clean your hands
- Report the accident and the heater hazard to your supervisor
In the Qwest, the steps are shuffled. Put them in the safest order to earn your LIVE It coins.
Keep caring: Infection Prevention and Home Safety
The rest of this eBook — the scenario, practice check, skills lab list, care log and answer key.
Get this eBook · $9.99All 10 eBooks + Ambassador membership · $49Home Care learners and Ambassadors: this series is included.Sign in to unlockCheck Your Care Skills
- 5 seconds
- At least 20 seconds
- 2 minutes
- Until the water is hot
- Only after toileting
- Before and after client contact and after removing gloves
- Only when they look dirty
- Once per visit
- Only use gloves for sick clients
- Treat all blood and body fluids as possibly infectious
- Wash hands once a day
- Wear a mask at all times
- Kitchen trash
- A sharps container
- The toilet
- A paper bag
- Ignore it
- Move it out of the walkway if safe and report it
- Tape it with paper tape
- Cut it
Answers are on page 11. In the Qwest this is the Boss Quiz — score 80% to earn the station badge.
Keep caring: Infection Prevention and Home Safety
The rest of this eBook — the scenario, practice check, skills lab list, care log and answer key.
Get this eBook · $9.99All 10 eBooks + Ambassador membership · $49Home Care learners and Ambassadors: this series is included.Sign in to unlockModule 3 Skills Lab
Practice and get checked on these 3 skills
Practice under an RN or qualified instructor until you can do each step without prompts.
| Skill | Date practiced | Instructor initials |
|---|---|---|
| Hand hygiene (soap and water, and alcohol-based hand rub) | ||
| Putting on and taking off gloves and other PPE | ||
| Handling soiled linens |
Hands-on skills and competency checks are completed in person with an approved partner program. Reading this eBook does not make you competent in a skill. Aides follow the care plan and the supervising nurse. For medicines, follow your state's rules and your agency's care plan.
Keep caring: Infection Prevention and Home Safety
The rest of this eBook — the scenario, practice check, skills lab list, care log and answer key.
Get this eBook · $9.99All 10 eBooks + Ambassador membership · $49Home Care learners and Ambassadors: this series is included.Sign in to unlockTeach It Forward
The fastest way to master a skill is to teach it. Your Share It challenge:
- Show someone at home the full hand-washing steps and the 20-second rule.
- Use teach-back: ask them to tell or show you the idea in their own words.
- Post what you learned (no client names or photos) in your group or the Share It Studio to earn SHARE It coins.
Keep caring: Infection Prevention and Home Safety
The rest of this eBook — the scenario, practice check, skills lab list, care log and answer key.
Get this eBook · $9.99All 10 eBooks + Ambassador membership · $49Home Care learners and Ambassadors: this series is included.Sign in to unlockSee It, Say It, Write It
Use this log to practice objective notes during lab or role-play. In a real job, use your agency's record system only. Never write client names here.
| Date / time | What I saw or measured | What the client said | Who I told | Instructions given |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Report changes the same day. Call 911 first in an emergency.
Keep caring: Infection Prevention and Home Safety
The rest of this eBook — the scenario, practice check, skills lab list, care log and answer key.
Get this eBook · $9.99All 10 eBooks + Ambassador membership · $49Home Care learners and Ambassadors: this series is included.Sign in to unlockAnswer Key
- B. At least 20 seconds — At least 20 seconds, covering all surfaces.
- B. Before and after client contact and after removing gloves — Before and after contact, and every time you remove gloves.
- B. Treat all blood and body fluids as possibly infectious — Use the same precautions with every client.
- B. A sharps container — Sharps go only into a sharps container. Never recap.
- B. Move it out of the walkway if safe and report it — Reduce the risk if you safely can, and report hazards.
Source: Home Care & Digital Caregiving, Force for Health Academy (2026). Mapped to 42 CFR 484.80 and AHCCCS Direct Care Worker Principles of Caregiving. Rules differ by state and agency: always follow your state's rules, your agency's policies and the client's care plan.
Keep caring: Infection Prevention and Home Safety
The rest of this eBook — the scenario, practice check, skills lab list, care log and answer key.
Get this eBook · $9.99All 10 eBooks + Ambassador membership · $49Home Care learners and Ambassadors: this series is included.Sign in to unlock10 modules. One connected caregiver.
Each eBook pairs with a video lesson in the Force for Health Academy. Hands-on skills and competency checks are completed in person with an approved partner program.
theforce.health/home-care-pathway · FFH Virtual LibraryKeep caring: Infection Prevention and Home Safety
The rest of this eBook — the scenario, practice check, skills lab list, care log and answer key.
Get this eBook · $9.99All 10 eBooks + Ambassador membership · $49Home Care learners and Ambassadors: this series is included.Sign in to unlock