38: A nurse in a mental health facility is caring for a client who has antisocial personality disorder and alcohol dependency. The nurse should encourage the client to participate in which of the following groups?

A. Clean hands with soap and water after caring for the client: C. difficile spores are resistant to alcohol-based hand sanitizers. Therefore, it is essential to use soap and water to effectively remove the spores from hands.
B. Place the client in a room with negative pressure airflow: C. difficile is not an airborne infection, so negative pressure airflow is not required. This measure is typically used for infections such as tuberculosis.
C. Wash hands for 10 seconds after caring for the client: Handwashing with soap and water should be done for at least 20 seconds to effectively remove C. difficile spores.
D. Apply a mask on the client when they are outside their room: A mask is not necessary for clients with C. difficile, as the infection is not transmitted through respiratory droplets but rather through fecal-oral transmission.

A. Droplet: Incorrect. Droplet precautions are used for infections spread through respiratory droplets, such as influenza or meningitis, not for immunocompromised clients undergoing stem-cell transplants.
B. Protective: Correct. Protective precautions, also known as neutropenic precautions or reverse isolation, are necessary for clients who are immunocompromised, such as those who have had a stem-cell transplant. These precautions include using barrier protection to prevent infection due to the client's weakened immune system.
C. Contact: Incorrect. Contact precautions are used for infections spread by direct or indirect contact with contaminated surfaces or items, such as Clostridium difficile, not for immunocompromised patients.
D. Airborne: Incorrect. Airborne precautions are used for infections that spread through the air over long distances, such as tuberculosis or measles, and are not specifically needed for clients with compromised immunity post-transplant.