What personal protective equipment is typically used for contact precautions?

Contact precautions are implemented to prevent the transmission of infectious agents that may be spread through direct or indirect contact with the patient or their environment. The primary personal protective equipment utilized for these precautions includes a gown and gloves.

The gown serves as a barrier to protect the skin and clothing from contaminants that may be present on the patient or their immediate surroundings. Gloves provide a protective layer for the hands, minimizing the risk of transmission by preventing direct contact with infectious materials.

While other options like masks, goggles, and face shields are important in certain scenarios, particularly those involving respiratory or splatter risks, they are not standard for contact precautions. Caps are not typically required for contact precautions as they do not provide a necessary barrier in the context of direct or indirect contact transmission. Thus, the combination of a gown and gloves is specifically designed to mitigate the risks associated with contact transmission, making it the correct answer for this question.