Bloodborne Pathogens and Infection Control

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• OSHA requires that we train all people at risk of exposure to blood borne pathogens.

• Training upon hire and update annually• Hepatitis B vaccine is offered free of charge to

all employees at risk.

Exposure to Blood Borne PathogensExposures occur: •through needle sticks, cuts, and injury from other sharp instruments•through contact of the eye, nose, mouth, or skin with an infected patient’s blood, body fluids

EXPOSURE INCIDENT PROCESS

Losing this much blood won’t kill you.

Receiving this much blood could

Exposures • Responsibility of employee to notify his/her director

or manager of a parenteral, mucous membrane or cutaneous exposure to blood or other body fluids

• Medical evaluation, monitoring, and counseling will be made available to the employee.

• Exposure Incident Packet must be completed and is available on the intranet.

• Employee– Notify manager ASAP– Exposure Incident Packet– Complete Exposure Incident Report– Obtain Source Patient consent(if

known)/lab order– Send patient WITH ORDER to lab– Contact MOHA for appt.– Present to MOHA with completed

exposure incident report– Labs will be drawn at MOHA

• Manager– Assist employee with printing and

completing forms– Assure 2 copies for exposure incident

are retained (send 1 copy to QM Manager within 24 hours

– Contact MOHA– Within 48 hours, meet with employee

to complete Blood or Body Fluid Analysis Report

08:00AM – 05:00PM

• Employee– Notify Manager Immediately, or ASAP the

next business day– Exposure Incident Report– Follow instructions on form for

completing source patient risk information

– Call TeleNurse to page MOHA MD On Call– It is important that the MOHA MD know if

the source is high risk for a blood borne transmitted disease

– MOHA MD may ask employee to have labs drawn immediately if possible

• Employee Exposure After Hours Lab Order

– Present to MOHA next business day with incident report

• Manager– Assist employee printing and

completing forms– Next business day assure

employee presents to MOHA – Retains 2 copies of exposure

incident report (sending 1 to QM Manager within 24 hours)

– Within 48 hours, meet with employee to complete Blood or Body Fluid Exposure Analysis Report

Before 08:00 AM Or After 05:00PM

HIV

• The average risk of HIV infection after a needle stick or cut is 0.3% (1 in 300).

Hepatitis B

• The virus is very durable and can survive in dried blood for up to 7 days.• Signs and symptoms of Hep B are similar to a mild flu. However, people

who are infected with HBV will often show no symptoms for some time.• After exposure to HBV it can take 1 to 9 months before symptoms

become noticeable.• The Hep B vaccination is a series of 3 injections; free to Springfield Clinic

employees.

Hepatitis B

• Healthcare personnel whom have received the HBV vaccine and have developed immunity are at virtually no risk for infection.

• For a susceptible person, risk from single needle stick or cut ranges from 6-30%.

• Incidence of occupational infections has decreased dramatically since availability of the vaccine.

Hepatitis C • Occupational exposure is unknown; studies

show about 1% of hospital healthcare workers are infected. Transmission rate is 1.8 %.

• There is no vaccine against Hepatitis C, however there are new drugs on the market.

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) consider all body fluids to be potentially infectious and

recommend following the standardized precautions:•Use your own judgment; if there is any doubt, consider it infectious and use the PPE necessary to protect yourself.

• Gloves• Gown• Mask• Safety goggles

#1 Infection Control Procedure

Hand Washing!

When should hand hygiene be performed?• Anytime hands are

visibly soiled (wash with soap and water)

• Upon entering or leaving work

• Before entering or leaving a patient room

• Before and after providing patient care

• Immediately after removing gloves

• Before and after using the restroom

• After coughing, sneezing, or blowing your nose

Hand Hygiene

• Per SC policy and CDC guidelines, alcohol based hand sanitizers are an acceptable alternative to soap and water.

• Soap, water and friction are more effective than hand sanitizers at removing or inactivating certain kinds of germs, particularly those that cause GI illnesses/diarrhea.

Sharps Safety• The use of safety needles and other safety devices are

mandatory when available.• Springfield Clinic offers very few exceptions; only when

the product is not available with a safety device.• Maintain a safe zone for unprotected sharps on

procedure trays.• Activate the safety device immediately after use.• Most needle sticks occur due to failure to properly

activate the safety device prior to disposal.

Sharps Safety

• All contaminated sharp items must be handled with extraordinary care to prevent injury and after use should be placed in leak proof, puncture resistant sharps containers.

• Do not allow container to become too full.• Employees will not accept used sharps from patients for disposal.• Used contaminated needles must not be recapped, removed from

disposable syringes, cut, bent, or otherwise manipulated by hand.

Bio-Hazard or Infectious Waste• If an article will release a liquid or semi-liquid of

blood or other potentially infectious material if squeezed, then that article must go into regulated waste container.

• All bags/containers must be sealed prior to collection or transport.

• Do not overfill bags or sharps containers.• Containers should not be accessible in a public area.

Refrigerators and Freezers• Refrigerators used for

biohazard storage must not be used for medications or food storage.

• Do not eat, drink, apply makeup, or put in contact lenses in areas where potentially infectious materials are present.

Infectious Spills

• Infectious spills are defined as any blood or body fluids containing visible blood.

• Examples of infectious spills:urine/feces/emesis with visible blood

• Always remember, if in doubt, consider it infectious, disinfect by using your spill kit.

Infectious Spills• See infectious fluid

spill kit.• Use personal

protective equipment.• Disinfect.• Personnel trained in

blood borne pathogens are responsible

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