Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) SLC Practice Exam

The intended outcome of using high-level disinfection methods is indeed focused on ensuring that medical devices and instruments that come into contact with mucous membranes are safe for such use. High-level disinfection is a critical process that goes beyond simple cleaning or lower-level disinfection. It is specifically designed to eliminate a wide range of pathogens, including bacteria and viruses, ensuring that items are aseptic for procedures involving sensitive areas of the body.

High-level disinfection does not aim to eliminate all pathogens, including spores, which would require a sterilization process instead. Additionally, while reducing the number of pathogens to safe levels might be a goal of intermediate or low-level disinfection, high-level disinfection takes it a step further, emphasizing the safety of devices meant for mucosal contact rather than just reducing pathogens. Lastly, cleaning surfaces of physical debris is a preliminary step that precedes disinfection and is not the primary objective of high-level disinfection itself.