Medical Environment Update—Managing healthcare workers with bloodborne diseases

By: Medical Environment Update February 8th, 2010

OSHA focuses on patient–to–healthcare worker transmission, but how do you mitigate the risk to patients?

That is the feature topic in the February issue of Medical Environment Update, which specifically looks at healthcare worker-to-patient transmission instead of the more typical patient-to-healthcare worker transmission that one finds with needlesticks. The feature article looks at complying with state regulations and recommendations from healthcare professional organizations, assessing exposure risks, defining exposure-prone invasive procedures, and ADA considerations.

Here is an excerpt from that article and a look at what else is covered in the February issue.

Ask any employee health manager or safety officer about how to handle a needlestick, and they’ll likely be able to provide detailed steps regarding documentation, patient and healthcare worker testing, treatment options, and future education and training for staff members.

Many employee health managers are so well versed in these requirements because OSHA standards make it part of the job description.

But what happens when a healthcare worker has a bloodborne disease such as HIV, HBV, or HCV? Although the risk for transmission is present, there are very few current guidelines that address the issue of healthcare worker–to–patient transmission.

This role reversal not only becomes an employee health issue, but it also crosses the border into quality and patient safety. Depending on the situation, it may involve worker restrictions if the employee poses a high risk for transmission.

Also, see the Web-exclusive post, “Updated guidelines on managing healthcare workers with bloodborne diseases.”

The Medical Environment Update February issue also includes:

• California’s recall of N95 flu respirators
• FDA-identified alternative for STERIS systems
• Quick self-inspection checklist: Dealing with chemical spills
• Ask the expert Q&As on sterilizer and equipment record and log retention and OSHA training requirements after rehiring.
• Updates to the OSHA Program Manuel concerning OSHA enforcement and pandemic influenza plans

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Medical Environment Update



Medical Environment Update is an eight-page monthly newsletter designed to help busy healthcare professionals who don't have time to look through regulatory journals for compliance requirements and information.

MEU has written 39 posts.

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