Standard Precautions are designed to protect which groups?

• A. All persons under care to prevent transmission
• B. Only patients
• C. Only healthcare workers
• D. Only visitors

Answer: (A)

Standard Precautions are a set of infection-control practices designed to prevent transmission by treating all blood and certain body fluids, non-intact skin, and mucous membranes as potentially infectious. Because anyone in a healthcare setting—patients, staff, and visitors—might be exposed, these precautions are applied universally to protect everyone, not just a single group. That universal approach is why the correct choice states that Standard Precautions protect all persons under care to prevent transmission. Adherence, including hand hygiene and appropriate use of PPE, helps reduce transmission risk for any person who might encounter infectious material. The other options are too narrow because limiting precautions to only patients, only healthcare workers, or only visitors would leave others unprotected.