NCLEX-RN · 10–16% of the exam
Protect the client, protect the staff, then do the task.
Safety questions reward the nurse who stops to check: Is this the right client? Is the environment safe? What precautions does this infection need? Here's what the content area covers, including its new 2026 name, and how to answer its questions.
Safety questions are often the most answerable items on the NCLEX, because the principles are consistent: identify the client properly, prevent injury, match precautions to how an infection spreads, and report errors openly. The trap is rushing past the safety step to the clinical task.
01 / Scope
What Safety and Infection Prevention and Control covers.
NCSBN defines it as "protecting clients and health care personnel from health and environmental hazards." It makes up 10–16% of scored content items on the 2026 NCLEX-RN. In the 2026 test plan, the subcategory formerly called "Safety and Infection Control" was renamed Safety and Infection Prevention and Control. The activity statements include:
- Identification and accuracy: properly identifying the client, verifying that treatment orders are appropriate, and assessing for allergies.
- Injury prevention: protecting clients from injury, safe equipment use, restraint requirements, ergonomics, and the care environment.
- Infection prevention: hand hygiene, aseptic and sterile technique, isolation, standard and enhanced barrier precautions, and teaching infection prevention.
- Hazards and security: biohazardous and hazardous materials, security plans, and emergency planning and response.
- Errors and unsafe practice: acknowledging and documenting errors and near misses, and reporting or escalating unsafe practice by staff.
02 / Client safety
Client safety essentials.
- Identification
- Use at least two client identifiers, such as name and date of birth, before giving medications, treatments, or procedures. A room or bed number is never an identifier.
- Falls & injury
- Assess fall risk, keep the bed low and locked with the call light in reach, and assist clients who are dizzy or unsteady. Our orthostatic vital signs example shows how fall risk is identified.
- Restraints
- Follow your facility's requirements and applicable regulations for orders, alternatives tried first, monitoring, and documentation. Exam items reward the least restrictive option.
- Errors
- Acknowledge and report errors and near misses through the facility's reporting system, and care for the client first. Reporting improves systems; hiding errors repeats them.
03 / Infection prevention
Infection prevention: match the precaution to the route.
CDC's isolation guideline uses two tiers. Standard precautions apply to every client: hand hygiene and personal protective equipment based on the expected exposure. Transmission-based precautions are added for specific infections according to how they spread:
Spread by touch
Gown and gloves for contact with the client and environment, plus dedicated equipment where possible.
Spread by large respiratory droplets
A mask when entering the client's room, and a private room where possible.
Spread by small particles that stay in the air
An airborne infection isolation room (negative pressure) and a fit-tested N95 or higher-level respirator, as for tuberculosis.
Exam items usually give you the infection and ask for the matching precaution, or give you an action and ask whether it's correct. Learn the common infections in each category from your course materials and the CDC guideline.
04 / Practice
Practice questions.
These are original practice items written by NurseCaseLab, not real NCLEX items.
Before giving a medication, which method should the nurse use to identify the client?
- A. Check the room number and ask the client, "Are you Mr. D.?"
- B. Compare the client's name and date of birth with the medication record, asking the client to state them
- C. Confirm the bed number against the assignment sheet
- D. Ask a family member at the bedside to confirm the client's name
Two identifiers, such as name and date of birth, are required, and asking the client to state them avoids a yes-or-no answer a confused client might give incorrectly. Room and bed numbers (A, C) aren't identifiers, and a leading yes-or-no question (A) isn't reliable. A family member (D) isn't a substitute for verifying against the record.
A client with suspected active pulmonary tuberculosis is being admitted. Which action by the nurse is appropriate?
- A. Place the client in a private room with the door open for observation
- B. Place the client in an airborne infection isolation room and wear a fit-tested N95 respirator when entering
- C. Wear a surgical mask when within 3 feet of the client
- D. Use contact precautions with a gown and gloves
Tuberculosis spreads by the airborne route. CDC guidance calls for an airborne infection isolation room and an N95 or higher-level respirator for staff who enter. An open door (A) lets air escape the room, a surgical mask (C) doesn't protect staff against airborne particles, and contact precautions (D) don't match the route. If the client must leave the room, the client wears a surgical mask during transport.
05 / Study plan
How to study Safety and Infection Prevention and Control.
- Make a precautions table of the common infections in your course, listing the route and the matching precaution for each.
- Look for the safety step in every item: identification, allergies, environment, equipment.
- Choose the least restrictive option for restraint and safety items.
- Know the reporting rules: errors, near misses, and unsafe practice are reported, not hidden.
Keep studying
Related guides.
Practice under exam conditions
Practice safety decisions in unfolding cases.
NursingProxy's NCLEX Simulation Lab uses unfolding clinical-judgment cases and NGN-style items, with rationales for every question.
Explore the NCLEX Simulation Lab Relationship disclosure: NurseCaseLab and NursingProxy are related learning properties. This external resource is optional and isn't required to use this guide.Sources & further reading
Go to the source.
- NCSBN, 2026 NCLEX-RN Test Plan (PDF)
- CDC, 2007 Guideline for Isolation Precautions (PDF)
- CDC, Tuberculosis Infection Control in Health Care Settings
- Nursing Pharmacology (Open RN), 2.3: Joint Commission two-identifier requirement
- Nursing Fundamentals (Open RN), 5.3 Safety Strategies
Practice questions are original NurseCaseLab items, not NCLEX items. NCLEX is a registered trademark of NCSBN; NurseCaseLab isn't affiliated with or endorsed by NCSBN. Follow your facility's infection prevention and restraint policies.