Your FREE CPCT/A Flashcards 2026 – 250+ Cards

60–100 beats per minute. Below 60 = bradycardia; above 100 = tachycardia.

12–20 breaths per minute.

About 97.8–99.1°F, averaging ~98.6°F (37°C).

Less than 120/80 mmHg is normal.

95–100%.

Right task, right circumstance, right person, right direction/communication, right supervision/evaluation.

The delegating nurse remains accountable; the PCT performs it and may decline a task outside their scope.

Feet apart, bend the knees, keep the back straight, and lift with the legs — not the back.

A safety belt around the patient's waist that the PCT grasps to support a weight-bearing patient during transfer or ambulation.

Weight-bearing: gait belt + body mechanics. Non-weight-bearing: a mechanical lift.

Lock the bed and wheelchair wheels and put non-skid footwear on the patient.

Semi-sitting with the head of bed raised ~45–60°; eases breathing and helps with eating.

Lying flat on the back, face up.

Lying flat on the stomach, face down.

Side-lying; relieves pressure on the back and sacrum.

Semi-prone on the left side; used for enemas and rectal procedures.

Head lower than the feet (bed tilted); sometimes used for shock or hypotension per order.

At least every 2 hours to prevent pressure injuries.

Intact skin with non-blanchable redness over a bony area.

Partial-thickness skin loss — a shallow open ulcer or blister.

Full-thickness loss exposing fat (subcutaneous tissue).

Full-thickness loss exposing muscle, tendon, or bone.

Bony areas: sacrum, heels, hips, elbows, and the back of the head.

Air (alternating-pressure) mattresses, draw sheets, heel protectors, and frequent repositioning.

Bathing, dressing, eating, toileting, grooming, and mobility.

Partial bath, full bed bath, and sitz bath (perineal soak).

Always clean front to back to avoid contaminating the urethra.

Keep the bag below the bladder, the tubing free of kinks, and perform perineal/catheter care to prevent CAUTI.

The caregiver moves the patient's joints for them; prevents contractures and stiffness.

Measured fluid in (oral, IV) and out (urine, emesis, drainage), recorded in mL to track fluid balance.

Low-flow oxygen via two prongs in the nares; comfortable for low oxygen needs.

High-concentration oxygen via a mask with a reservoir bag and one-way valves.

Oxygen supports combustion — no open flames, keep away from heat sources, post 'oxygen in use' signs.

PEG (percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy), G (gastrostomy), and NG (nasogastric) tubes.

Keep the head of bed elevated (≥ 30–45°), watch for tubing kinks, and report complications.

Encourages deep breathing to expand the lungs and prevent pneumonia/atelectasis after surgery.

Turn, cough, and deep breathe — keep the lungs clear and prevent respiratory complications.

Inflatable sleeves that squeeze the legs to prevent blood clots (DVT) in immobile patients.

Compression hose that promote venous return and help prevent deep vein thrombosis.

30:2 for a single rescuer (healthcare provider BLS).

100–120 compressions per minute, at least 2 inches (5 cm) deep.

When a patient is unresponsive and not breathing/pulseless — activate emergency response and start compressions.

Report it to the assigned nurse immediately; it is a result far outside normal needing prompt action.

A 0–10 numeric scale (or faces scale) used to assess and report a patient's pain level.

Swelling from fluid buildup in tissue; recognize and report it, especially in the legs and feet.

Redness, warmth, swelling, pain, purulent (pus) drainage, and possibly fever — report them.

Denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance (not a fixed order).

Respectful care of the body after death — positioning, cleaning, and following facility/cultural policy.

Regularly checking pain, positioning, personal needs, and proactive ADLs; supports safety and HCAHPS.

Consider fall risk, elopement risk, rapid responses, and stat lab values; address the most urgent first.

Performed when delegated and per policy: stop infusion, remove, apply pressure, and check the site.

Active listening, open-ended questions, empathy, and silence to support a patient emotionally.

Confirm the patient with name and date of birth — never the room or bed number.

Use the correct scale (standing, chair/wheelchair, or bed) and weigh at the same time/conditions for accuracy.

Dark, cloudy, bloody, foul-smelling, or very low output (oliguria) urine.

Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems — a patient-experience survey; rounding helps scores.

Apply safely to immobilize a limb; check circulation, sensation, and movement distal to the splint.

Inhaling food, fluid, or secretions into the airway/lungs; prevent with upright positioning and precautions.

Do not take BP (or draw blood) on the arm of a mastectomy side — use the other arm.

Cardiovascular, respiratory, musculoskeletal, nervous, digestive, urinary, integumentary, and endocrine systems.

A heart attack — blocked blood flow to heart muscle; signs include chest pain, shortness of breath, and diaphoresis.

The heart can't pump effectively, causing fluid backup — edema, shortness of breath, and weight gain.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease — long-term airflow limitation; patients may need low-flow oxygen.

Impaired blood-glucose regulation; watch for and report hypo- or hyperglycemia.

Shakiness, sweating, confusion, and rapid pulse from low blood sugar — report promptly.

Face drooping, Arm weakness, Speech difficulty, Time to call for help.

Heart rate counted with a stethoscope at the apex of the heart for one full minute.

The pulse felt at the wrist (radial artery), commonly used for a routine pulse.

A drop in blood pressure on standing; rise the patient slowly to prevent falls.

The sounds heard with a stethoscope while measuring blood pressure — first sound = systolic, last = diastolic.

A device clipped on a finger that measures oxygen saturation (SpO₂) noninvasively.

Frequent rounding, bed/chair alarms, low beds, and addressing needs — try these before restraints.

Call light in reach, bed low and locked, non-skid footwear, clear path, and frequent rounding.

Turning a patient as one unit to keep the spine aligned (e.g., after spinal injury).

Sitting a patient on the edge of the bed before standing to prevent dizziness/falls.

Serous (clear), sanguineous (bloody), serosanguineous (mixed), and purulent (pus).

Care of a surgical stoma (e.g., colostomy); the PCT may assist but does not irrigate it.

Vomiting; observe and report the amount, color, and content.

Mucus coughed up from the lungs; note color/consistency and collect specimens as ordered.

Another name for a pressure injury (bedsore).

Do not apply compression to a leg with a known clot (DVT).

Active: the patient moves the joint; passive: the caregiver moves it for them.

Comfort-focused (palliative) care for terminally ill patients; the PCT supports comfort and coping.

Use appropriate equipment and extra staff; protect skin folds and use safe handling.

Chart objective, factual, timely observations; correct errors with a single line and initials — never erase.

Report = tell the nurse verbally (urgent); record = document in the chart.

Tracks fluid status (e.g., in CHF); weigh at the same time, scale, and clothing each day.

Sit the patient upright (high Fowler's) for meals and tube feedings.

A common HAI; prevent with perineal care, a closed system, and keeping the bag below the bladder.

Full name and date of birth, verified against the order and wristband — never the room number.

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act — protects patients' protected health information (PHI).

Protected health information — individually identifiable health data that must be kept private and secure.

Provide delegated, supportive care under a nurse; do NOT diagnose, prescribe, interpret results, or treat.

A PCT must report suspected abuse or neglect based on reasonable suspicion — it is required, not optional.

Physical, emotional/psychological, sexual, financial, and neglect.

Patients' rights including privacy, informed consent, respectful care, and refusal of treatment.

The facility's order of authority through which a PCT reports concerns and seeks direction.

Occupational Safety and Health Administration — sets and enforces workplace safety standards.

A document listing a chemical's hazards, safe handling, PPE, and first aid.

Rescue, Alarm, Confine, Extinguish/Evacuate.

Pull the pin, Aim at the base of the fire, Squeeze the handle, Sweep side to side.

At the base of the flames, not the tops.

Accredits healthcare facilities and sets the National Patient Safety Goals.

Joint Commission standards — including the two-identifier rule — to improve patient safety.

Use only with an order and per policy, as a last resort; check the patient frequently and document.

Lock beds and wheelchairs; raise side rails only when ordered; keep the bed low and the call light in reach.

Report and document any work-related accident or patient incident promptly per facility policy.

A digital patient chart; access only on a need-to-know basis and log off when done.

Principles guiding conduct: beneficence, nonmaleficence, autonomy, justice, and confidentiality.

Failure to provide the standard of care a reasonable person would, resulting in harm.

The patient's voluntary agreement to a procedure after being told the risks and benefits.

Keeping patient information private; a HIPAA and ethical requirement.

Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute — sets lab standards including the order of draw.

Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments — federal standards regulating laboratory testing quality.

An overheard disclosure despite reasonable safeguards is permitted; deliberate snooping is a violation.

Snooping in a record, discussing patients in public, or copying PHI to a personal device.

Know facility codes and acronyms (RACE, PASS) and evacuation routes.

Wash the area, report immediately, and follow the facility's exposure-control plan.

OSHA (regulations), NIOSH (research), and CDC (guidelines).

The ethical duty to act in the patient's best interest (do good).

The ethical duty to do no harm.

Respecting a patient's right to make their own care decisions.

A legal document stating a patient's care wishes if they can't speak for themselves (e.g., living will).

Do Not Resuscitate — a physician order to withhold CPR; honor it per policy.

Assault = threatening harm; battery = actual unwanted physical contact.

Harming a reputation: libel (written) or slander (spoken).

Restraining or confining a patient without consent or order (e.g., improper restraint use).

The level of care a reasonably prudent worker would provide in the same situation.

Legal responsibility for one's actions, including negligence.

Providing respectful care that accounts for a patient's culture, language, and beliefs.

Use a trained/medical interpreter (not family) for patients with limited English when possible.

Access and share only the PHI needed to do the job.

Follow facility codes, protect yourself and patients, and call for help/security.

Designing tasks and using technique to reduce strain and prevent injury.

Treating all body substances as infectious — the basis of standard precautions.

Suffix meaning inflammation (e.g., dermatitis = skin inflammation).

Prefix meaning slow (e.g., bradycardia = slow heart rate).

Prefix meaning fast (e.g., tachycardia = fast heart rate).

Hypo- = below/low; hyper- = above/high.

Treat every patient's blood and body fluids as infectious — hand hygiene and PPE for all patients, always.

Hand hygiene (washing or alcohol rub) — it breaks the chain of infection.

Contact, droplet, and airborne — added for a known or suspected specific infection.

Gown + gloves and dedicated equipment for MRSA, C. difficile, scabies, etc.

Surgical mask within ~6 feet for influenza, pertussis, mumps.

N95 respirator + negative-pressure room for tuberculosis, measles, varicella.

Contact precautions AND wash with soap and water — alcohol rub does NOT kill the spores.

Agent, reservoir, portal of exit, mode of transmission, portal of entry, susceptible host.

Contact (often via the hands of healthcare workers).

Gown → mask/respirator → goggles/face shield → gloves.

Gloves → goggles/face shield → gown → mask/respirator (most contaminated off first).

Before donning PPE and again after doffing it.

An infection acquired while receiving care, e.g., UTI, MRSA, or C. difficile.

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus — antibiotic-resistant; requires contact precautions.

Drop point-first into a puncture-resistant sharps container; never recap a needle by hand.

For contaminated waste (not sharps); follow OSHA and facility policy.

Practices that reduce the number and spread of microorganisms — clean technique and hand hygiene.

Keeping an area completely free of microorganisms for invasive or sterile procedures.

Clean reusable equipment before and after use and observe the disinfectant's contact (wet/dry) time.

The facility's written plan for responding to occupational bloodborne-pathogen exposure.

Whenever contact with blood, body fluids, mucous membranes, or non-intact skin is likely.

Wash with soap and water; alcohol rub is for hands that are not visibly soiled.

Airborne — N95 respirator and a negative-pressure room.

Droplet — a surgical mask within about 6 feet.

Contact — gown and gloves; dedicated equipment.

Perform before and after every patient contact — the single most important infection-control measure.

Keep sterile items above waist level, in view, and never reach over the field; 1-inch border is non-sterile.

Pathogens carried in blood — e.g., HIV, hepatitis B (HBV), hepatitis C (HCV).

Offered to at-risk healthcare workers under OSHA to prevent HBV infection.

Devices that reduce exposure — sharps containers and safety-engineered (retractable) needles.

Safe behaviors that reduce exposure — no recapping, hand hygiene, proper PPE.

People, contaminated equipment, water, and surfaces where pathogens live and multiply.

Broken skin, mucous membranes, and the respiratory or urinary tract.

The time a surface must stay wet with disinfectant to kill pathogens — follow the label.

Before it overfills (about ¾ full); never overstuff it.

Wear PPE, contain and disinfect per policy, and dispose of waste as biohazard.

Blood culture → light blue (citrate) → red/gold (serum) → green (heparin) → lavender (EDTA) → gray (fluoride).

To prevent additive carryover from one tube contaminating and skewing the next.

Sodium citrate additive; coagulation tests (PT/PTT). Must be filled completely.

Clot activator (and gel in SST); serum chemistry tests.

Heparin additive; plasma chemistry tests.

EDTA additive; hematology and CBC.

Sodium fluoride additive; glucose and lactate testing.

Blood culture bottles — to protect sterility.

The median cubital vein in the antecubital fossa (front of the elbow).

No longer than 1 minute, to avoid hemoconcentration and skewed results.

Drawing blood from a vein using an evacuated tube system, a winged (butterfly) set, or a syringe.

Fingerstick in adults; heelstick in infants.

Blood pooling under the skin — from a needle through the vein or pressure not held; release tourniquet and apply pressure.

Tiny red spots on the skin; may indicate a clotting problem.

Fainting; stop the draw, lower the head, stay with the patient, and prevent a fall.

Sharp, shooting pain or tingling; remove the needle immediately and report.

Rupture of red blood cells that ruins a specimen — a preanalytical error from rough handling/technique.

Quantity not sufficient — too little specimen to test; recollect.

At the bedside, immediately after collection — never before, never away from the patient.

Patient name, date of birth, date and time of collection, and the collector's identifier.

Documentation tracking a specimen from collection to testing for forensic, blood-alcohol, and drug-screen samples.

Some tests (e.g., glucose, lipids) require the patient to fast; verify before drawing.

The patient's resting metabolic state (early morning, ~12 h fast) required for certain tests.

Disinfect the site thoroughly (asepsis) and draw into sterile bottles first to avoid contamination.

Some specimens need protection from light, a specific temperature, or prompt delivery (time-sensitive).

Urine, stool, sputum, and semen; explain collection to the patient and label correctly.

'Boys Love Ravishing Girls in Lavender Gowns' — Blue, Light/serum (Red), Green, Lavender, Gray.

Veins carry blood toward the heart; arteries away. Phlebotomy uses superficial veins.

Quality control performed for simple, waived tests to ensure accurate results.

An arm with an IV, a dialysis fistula/graft, or on a mastectomy side.

A vacuum tube + holder + double-ended needle — the most common venipuncture method.

A small needle with tubing for small or fragile veins (hand, elderly, pediatric).

Median cubital first, then cephalic, then basilic (basilic last — near the nerve and artery).

The smaller the gauge number, the larger the needle bore (e.g., 21G is larger than 23G).

Insert at about 15–30 degrees, bevel up.

If drawn after another additive, carryover changes the blood-to-citrate ratio and invalidates coagulation tests.

A cloudy, fatty specimen — often from a non-fasting patient when fasting was required.

A specimen with high bilirubin (yellow); a patient/disease factor, not a collection error.

Spins a tube to separate serum/plasma from cells; let serum tubes clot first.

Serum = liquid after clotting (no anticoagulant); plasma = liquid with an anticoagulant, cells removed.

Never apply a tourniquet or draw blood from an arm with a dialysis fistula or graft.

Avoid drawing from a swollen (edematous) area — results are unreliable.

Falsely elevated values from a tourniquet left on too long (> 1 minute) or excessive fist pumping.

Different from venous: blood gases first, then EDTA (lavender), then other additives, then serum.

The medial or lateral plantar (bottom) surface of the heel — avoid the center/arch.

Lists the ordered tests and patient info; verify it matches the patient's two identifiers.

About 3–4 inches above the intended puncture site.

Clean a venipuncture site from the center outward (especially for blood cultures).

Apply firm pressure until bleeding stops; apply a bandage and check for a hematoma.

Consent inferred from a patient's actions (e.g., extending the arm for a draw).

10 electrodes: 4 limb + 6 chest (precordial). They produce 12 views (leads).

The sinoatrial node — the heart's natural pacemaker in the right atrium; fires 60–100/min.

SA node → AV node → bundle of His → bundle branches → Purkinje fibers.

Atrial depolarization (the atria contracting).

Ventricular depolarization (the ventricles contracting).

Ventricular repolarization (the ventricles recovering).

25 mm/s.

10 mm = 1 mV.

4th intercostal space, right sternal border.

4th intercostal space, left sternal border.

5th intercostal space, left midclavicular line.

Slow up-and-down drift from movement, breathing, or loose/dried electrodes; re-prep skin and replace electrodes.

Fuzzy, erratic spikes from shivering or tension; relax and reposition the patient.

Uniform thick fuzz from nearby electrical equipment or crossed wires; unplug devices, uncross leads, check grounding.

A chaotic, quivering baseline with no organized QRS — life-threatening and shockable; start CPR.

A fast, wide-complex rhythm; life-threatening — escalate immediately.

A flat line with no electrical activity (cardiac standstill); treat with CPR, not a shock.

Recognize and report dysrhythmias and escalate dangerous ones — but do NOT diagnose.

Clean and dry the skin, remove hair where it blocks an electrode, for good contact and a clean tracing.

Pediatric, mastectomy, amputation, right-sided heart, and posterior chest need modified placement.

Chest pain, shortness of breath, fainting, or an ominous rhythm — stay with the patient and call for help.

Bradycardia is a heart rate under 60/min; tachycardia is over 100/min.

One on each arm and each leg (the right-leg electrode is the ground).

Midway between V2 and V4.

Left anterior axillary line, level with V4.

Left midaxillary line, level with V4 and V5.

Electrodes are the sensors on the skin; leads are the calculated views (12 leads from 10 electrodes).

The square standardization mark confirming 1 mV = 10 mm; check it before recording.

Sensitivity reduced to 5 mm/mV when complexes are too tall to fit the paper.

A faster speed sometimes used to spread out fast rhythms for clarity.

0.12–0.20 seconds — the time for the impulse to travel from atria to ventricles.

Less than 0.12 seconds; a wide QRS suggests a ventricular origin.

Clean the machine and cables, replace electrodes, and check for frayed wires regularly.

3- and 5-lead are used for continuous monitoring; 12-lead is the full diagnostic resting EKG.

Regular, 60–100/min, with an upright P wave before every QRS.

A cause of AC/electrical interference — uncross them to clean up the tracing.