A nurse working in a pediatric ER is performing triage on a patient who presented with complaints of a dog bite from the family dog to the right arm. The patient has 2 distinct puncture marks with one on the anterior forearm and one on the posterior forearm. The child's mother states that the child awoke the sleeping dog who then bit the child when startled. The nurse knows which of the following is required when reporting a dog bite?

Explanation

Doctors, nurses, and other healthcare personnel that are presented with a patient suffering from an animal bite must report the incident to the community health department. This reporting is required so that the animal can be quarantined and monitored for signs of rabies infection. Animals with verifiable rabies vaccinations will still be quarantined to be certain that the animal has no active rabies infection. After the quarantine period, the animal may be returned to the family as long as the animal is found to pose no threat.

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