Chart — Clinical Skills
Isolation Precautions Compared
Standard, contact, droplet, airborne — the four precaution tiers in one grid, with the PPE, room type, and classic example pathogens, plus the aerosol-generating procedures that escalate respiratory care to airborne protection.
Written by Apex Respiratory Editorial Team
Educational use only. This material supports respiratory therapy education and exam review. It is not medical advice and is not a substitute for clinical judgment, institutional protocols, or physician orders. Always follow facility policies and current provider orders, and verify calculations independently before clinical use.
Standard & Transmission-Based Precautions
| Precaution | When It Applies | PPE Required | Room | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | All patients, all care, all the time | Hand hygiene; gloves, gown, mask, and eye protection as anticipated by exposure | Standard room | Applied to every patient |
| Contact | Spread by direct or indirect contact | Gloves and gown | Private room preferred | MRSA, VRE, Clostridioides difficile (soap-and-water hand hygiene), RSV, scabies |
| Droplet | Spread by large respiratory droplets over short distances | Surgical mask within about 6 feet, plus standard precautions | Private room preferred; door may remain open | Influenza, pertussis, Neisseria meningitidis, mumps, rubella |
| Airborne | Spread by small airborne nuclei over long distances | Fit-tested N95 or higher respirator | Airborne infection isolation room (negative pressure), door closed | Tuberculosis, measles (rubeola), varicella (chickenpox), disseminated zoster |
How to Use This Chart
Transmission-based precautions are always layered on top of standard precautions — they add to the baseline, never replace it. Use the tier that matches the pathogen’s known route; when the route is uncertain, apply the higher tier until the organism is identified.
- Standard precautions are the baseline for every patient; transmission-based precautions are layered on top.
- Aerosol-generating procedures(intubation, open suctioning, bronchoscopy, NIV/high-flow, nebulizers, sputum induction, manual ventilation) raise airborne risk — use an N95 and a negative-pressure room per policy.
- Clostridioides difficile and norovirusrequire soap-and-water hand washing — alcohol gel does not kill the spores.
Related Resources
Sources
- Siegel JD, Rhinehart E, Jackson M, Chiarello L; HICPAC. 2007 Guideline for Isolation Precautions: Preventing Transmission of Infectious Agents in Healthcare Settings. CDC; 2007 (updated 2019).
- Kacmarek RM, Stoller JK, Heuer AJ. Egan's Fundamentals of Respiratory Care. 12th ed. Elsevier; 2021. Infection control.