Ace the CRCST Practice Exam 2025 – Spark Your Sterile Processing Success!

The stages of infection control in a healthcare setting are critical for ensuring the safety of both patients and healthcare workers. The correct answer, which identifies a term that does not specifically represent a defined stage of infection control, is "washing."

Infection control typically includes stages such as cleaning, which involves the removal of dirt and organic material; packaging, which is essential for the safe transport and storage of sterile instruments; and sterilization, which is the process that completely eliminates all forms of microbial life, including spores.

Washing, while an important practice for hygiene in general and sometimes related to cleaning, does not stand alone as a defined stage of infection control. Rather, it may be part of the cleaning process but is not considered a separate stage like the others listed. Therefore, understanding these distinctions helps clarify the necessary steps involved in effective infection control protocols.