Because the OSHA Standard (1910.1030 Bloodborne Pathogen) requires it.
All of the material contained herein may be subject to placement on the final exam, which personnel must pass with at least an 80%.
The training program shall contain at a minimum the following elements:
In 1992, the Federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) promulgated the Bloodborne Pathogen Standard (BBPS), which was incorporated into the Maryland Occupational Safety and Health Regulation (MOSH) under Code of Maryland Regulations (COMAR) 09.12.31, J-1. Part 1910 of Title 29 of the Code of Federal Regulations (29 CFR 1910.1030) supplies the details of the BBPS. It requires that employers (including schools) who have employees at risk of being exposed to body fluids do the following:
*Ref: BLOODBORNE PATHOGENS CONTROL AND HANDLING BODY FLUIDS IN THE SCHOOL SETTING
Occupational Exposure means reasonably anticipated skin, eye, mucous membrane, or parenteral contact with blood or other potentially infectious materials that may result from the performance of an employee's duties. (OSHA)
The risk for exposure comes mostly from:
Protection from exposure comes from:
Intact Skin . . .
Needlestick, Cut or Non-Intact Skin . . .
Mouth . . .
Eyes
Safe Handling of Sharps
Personal Protective Equipment
Discuss the following site-specific practices & procedures with a supervisor
All blood exposures must be reported -- Discuss site specific method for reporting
An introduction to infectious diseases:
The two terms are frequently used interchangeably in our business, but it is important to note that in reference to many specific diseases there may be a difference.
According to the CDC, an infectious disease is a disease caused by a microorganism and therefore potentially infinitely transferable to new individuals. It may or may not be communicable. An example of a non-communicable disease is disease caused by toxins from food poisoning or infection caused by toxins in the environment, such as tetanus. A communicable disease is an infectious disease that is contagious and which can be transmitted from one source to another by infectious bacteria or viral organisms.
As you're aware, in the period between 2018-2019, there was a large spike in measles cases in the United States, as was widely reported in the news. According to the CDC, during 2019 there were 1282 active cases of measles confirmed in 31 states-a more than 300% increase from 2018. The cause? From the CDC:
The CDC defines an outbreak as "3 or more related cases." The measles vaccine is on average 93% effective after one dose, and 97% effective after two doses. Further, both serologic and epidemiologic evidence indicate that vaccine-induced measles immunity appears to be long-term and probably lifelong in most persons. Our recommendation is to contact FROMS with a query as to what your latest titre value is and let them tell you if you need a booster or not.
You may review more information on the signs and symptoms of measles here. You may get more general information about vaccines here.
References
Centers for Disease Control. (2019). MMR and MMRV vaccine composition and dosage. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vpd/mmr/hcp/about.html.
Centers for Disease Control. (2019). Measles cases and outbreaks. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/measles/cases-outbreaks.html#targetText=Measles%20Cases%20in%202019,cases%20from%20the%20previous%20week. .
It is possible for the Hepatitis B virus to survive in dried blood on a contaminated surface for a week (source)
This means it is important to do four things:
So, we're telling you to wash your hands frequently, but you have so many questions about the whole thing, like: Why is it so important to wash your hands? What's the most effective way to wash your hands? When is it okay to use hand sanitizer? Which is better, hand sanitizer or soap? What type of hand sanitizer should I use? Thankfully, the CDC does a great job of pulling research and answering all these questions for us. Here are the highlights of the latest research concerning handwashing:
For more on why you should wash your hands, including interesting statistics, please click here.
For more on when and how to wash your hands, please click here.
For more on hand sanitizer, including explanations and research, please click here.
See the World Health Organization (WHO) video on handwashing below.
Good handwashing helps to stop disease spread.
Our approach to PPE is that we have a baseline of PPE and we increase the amount and nature of PPE as necessary based on the risk assessment of operating personnel. This risk assessment (scene size up) should consider all available information such as:
At the very least every patient contact will require medical gloves. If there is any chance of splashing, splattering, or dripping from above of bodily fluids then protection must be expanded to include eye-protection, respiratory protection, and other skin protection. The amount and type of protection used depends on the situation. PPE should be placed/staged in areas where you'll need it, e.g. airway kits and airway stations should have face shields on hand.