HOME HEALTH AIDE 2026 COMPREHENSIVE EXAMS
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS SURE A+
✔✔Protected Health Information (PHI) - ✔✔Under HIPAA a person's health information
must be kept private. Examples of PHI are social security number, name, address,
telephone number, email address, and medical records.
✔✔HITECH Act of 2009 - ✔✔made into a law to promote the adoption and meaningful
use of health information technology
✔✔Ways to protect a client's privacy - ✔✔1. Do not leave information for a client in a
voicemail
2. Make sure that you're in a private area when listening to or reading messages
3. Know whom you're speaking with on the phone. Get a name and a callback number.
4. Make and accept phonically about clients in private areas
5. Do not use client's phone unless you're calling an approved agency or supervisor
6. Do not leave documents in the open
7. Don't share client's information with family
✔✔Penalties for violating HIPAA - ✔✔1. Fines ranging from $100 to $250,000
2. Prison sentences up to ten years
,✔✔workplace violence - ✔✔abuse of staff by residents or other staff members; can be
verbal, physical, or sexual.
✔✔advance directives - ✔✔legal documents that allow people to choose what medical
care they wish to have if they are unable to make those decisions themselves
✔✔living will - ✔✔the medical care that a person wants, or does not want, in case that
person is unable to make those decisions for themselves. It takes effect while the
person is still living.
✔✔durable power of attorney for health care - ✔✔a signed and dated legal document
that appoints someone to make the medical decisions for a person in the event he or
she becomes unable to do so
✔✔infection prevention - ✔✔the set of methods used to prevent and control the spread
of disease
✔✔microorganism - ✔✔a tiny organism that can be seen only with a microscope
✔✔chain of infection - ✔✔a way of describing how disease is transmitted from one
being to another
✔✔Chain Links (1-6) - ✔✔1. Causative agent
2. Reservoir
3. Portal of exit
4. Mode of transmission
5. Portal of Entry
6. Susceptible Host
✔✔causitive agent (1) - ✔✔any biologic agent capable of causing disease
✔✔reservoir (2) - ✔✔a place where the pathogen lives and grows
✔✔portal of exit (3) - ✔✔any body opening on an infected person that allows pathogens
to leave
✔✔mode of transmission (4) - ✔✔describes how the pathogen travels
✔✔direct contact - ✔✔happens by touching the infected person or his secretions
✔✔indirect contact - ✔✔results from touching something contaminated by the infected
person, such as a tissue or clothes.
, ✔✔portal of entry (5) - ✔✔any body opening on an uninfected person that allows
pathogens to enter
✔✔mucous membrane - ✔✔membranes that line various body cavities, including the
nose, ears, and mouth
✔✔susceptible host (6) - ✔✔an uninfected person who could become sick
✔✔medical asepsis - ✔✔the process of removing pathogens, or the state of being free
of pathogens. It refers to the clean conditions that you want to create in the home and is
used in all healthcare settings
✔✔Whats the most important way to stop the spread of an infection? - ✔✔Washing your
hands!
✔✔Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) - ✔✔A federal government
agency that makes rules to protect workers from hazards on the job
✔✔Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) - ✔✔federal government agency
responsible for improving the overall health and safety of the people of the United
States
✔✔isolate - ✔✔to keep something separate, or by itself
✔✔What are the two tiers or levels of precautions? - ✔✔Standard precautions and
transmission-based precautions.
✔✔standard precautions (tier 1) - ✔✔treating all blood, bodily fluids, and non-intact skin
as if they're infected with an infectious disease
✔✔What is not considered to be a "bodily fluid" under standard precautions? -
✔✔Sweat
✔✔Standard precautions and transmission-based precautions are a way to... - ✔✔stop
the spread of infection by interrupting the mode of transmission. The guidelines don't
stop an infected person from giving off pathogens. By following the guidelines, you help
prevent those pathogens from infecting you or those in your care.
✔✔Guidelines: standard precations - ✔✔wash your hands, wear gloves, remove gloves
immediately after every procedure, wash all contaminated skin surfaces, wear
disposable gown, wear a mask and protective goggles, etc.
✔✔hand hygiene - ✔✔performing hand washing with plain or antiseptic soap and/or
alcohol-based hand rub
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS SURE A+
✔✔Protected Health Information (PHI) - ✔✔Under HIPAA a person's health information
must be kept private. Examples of PHI are social security number, name, address,
telephone number, email address, and medical records.
✔✔HITECH Act of 2009 - ✔✔made into a law to promote the adoption and meaningful
use of health information technology
✔✔Ways to protect a client's privacy - ✔✔1. Do not leave information for a client in a
voicemail
2. Make sure that you're in a private area when listening to or reading messages
3. Know whom you're speaking with on the phone. Get a name and a callback number.
4. Make and accept phonically about clients in private areas
5. Do not use client's phone unless you're calling an approved agency or supervisor
6. Do not leave documents in the open
7. Don't share client's information with family
✔✔Penalties for violating HIPAA - ✔✔1. Fines ranging from $100 to $250,000
2. Prison sentences up to ten years
,✔✔workplace violence - ✔✔abuse of staff by residents or other staff members; can be
verbal, physical, or sexual.
✔✔advance directives - ✔✔legal documents that allow people to choose what medical
care they wish to have if they are unable to make those decisions themselves
✔✔living will - ✔✔the medical care that a person wants, or does not want, in case that
person is unable to make those decisions for themselves. It takes effect while the
person is still living.
✔✔durable power of attorney for health care - ✔✔a signed and dated legal document
that appoints someone to make the medical decisions for a person in the event he or
she becomes unable to do so
✔✔infection prevention - ✔✔the set of methods used to prevent and control the spread
of disease
✔✔microorganism - ✔✔a tiny organism that can be seen only with a microscope
✔✔chain of infection - ✔✔a way of describing how disease is transmitted from one
being to another
✔✔Chain Links (1-6) - ✔✔1. Causative agent
2. Reservoir
3. Portal of exit
4. Mode of transmission
5. Portal of Entry
6. Susceptible Host
✔✔causitive agent (1) - ✔✔any biologic agent capable of causing disease
✔✔reservoir (2) - ✔✔a place where the pathogen lives and grows
✔✔portal of exit (3) - ✔✔any body opening on an infected person that allows pathogens
to leave
✔✔mode of transmission (4) - ✔✔describes how the pathogen travels
✔✔direct contact - ✔✔happens by touching the infected person or his secretions
✔✔indirect contact - ✔✔results from touching something contaminated by the infected
person, such as a tissue or clothes.
, ✔✔portal of entry (5) - ✔✔any body opening on an uninfected person that allows
pathogens to enter
✔✔mucous membrane - ✔✔membranes that line various body cavities, including the
nose, ears, and mouth
✔✔susceptible host (6) - ✔✔an uninfected person who could become sick
✔✔medical asepsis - ✔✔the process of removing pathogens, or the state of being free
of pathogens. It refers to the clean conditions that you want to create in the home and is
used in all healthcare settings
✔✔Whats the most important way to stop the spread of an infection? - ✔✔Washing your
hands!
✔✔Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) - ✔✔A federal government
agency that makes rules to protect workers from hazards on the job
✔✔Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) - ✔✔federal government agency
responsible for improving the overall health and safety of the people of the United
States
✔✔isolate - ✔✔to keep something separate, or by itself
✔✔What are the two tiers or levels of precautions? - ✔✔Standard precautions and
transmission-based precautions.
✔✔standard precautions (tier 1) - ✔✔treating all blood, bodily fluids, and non-intact skin
as if they're infected with an infectious disease
✔✔What is not considered to be a "bodily fluid" under standard precautions? -
✔✔Sweat
✔✔Standard precautions and transmission-based precautions are a way to... - ✔✔stop
the spread of infection by interrupting the mode of transmission. The guidelines don't
stop an infected person from giving off pathogens. By following the guidelines, you help
prevent those pathogens from infecting you or those in your care.
✔✔Guidelines: standard precations - ✔✔wash your hands, wear gloves, remove gloves
immediately after every procedure, wash all contaminated skin surfaces, wear
disposable gown, wear a mask and protective goggles, etc.
✔✔hand hygiene - ✔✔performing hand washing with plain or antiseptic soap and/or
alcohol-based hand rub
