Archive for: Bloodborne Pathogens
Notes From the field: High-level disinfecting AND autoclaving?
Recently, I have noticed this issue during several of my mock OSHA inspections. Glutaraldehyde should only be used to disinfect heat-sensitive instruments. When the soaking time is long enough, most high-level disinfectants can achieve complete sterilization.
If an instrument has been manufactured to withstand heat, it should be autoclaved (sterilized)
Some physician offices are using the glutaraldehyde as a soaking solution, AND autoclaving the instrument.
This is over-kill.
Notes from the field: “Why are you standing on the ledge under the sink cabinet?”
As I was walking past an exam room last week during an inspection, I couldn’t believe what I seeing.
One of the medical assistants (MA) was too short to reach the wall mounted sharps container, so she opened the under the sink cabinet door, stood on the ledge, reached up over her head, and put the used safety device in the sharps container.
Just for laughs, what’s wrong with this picture?
A scrub team member wearing lime green Crocs with ventilation holes stands in a puddle of some nasty-looking fluid next to an operating room table.
Before that gets your OSHA and infection control hackles up, relax. It’s a cartoon, but one with more than just a little bit of truth to it.
When healthcare workers fear for their own health
A thoughtful “Doctor and Patient” article by Pauline W. Chen, MD, in The New York Times, May 21, raises an issue that I think is never too far removed from the minds of healthcare professionals.
“I believe it’s a privilege, a calling, to take care of patients. And I believe that in deciding to practice medicine, I have consented to an unspoken contract with the public, one that requires that I take care of those who are sick. Lately, however, I have also begun to think that there is another side to that contract. Maybe there are obligations that the general public has to its health care workers,” writes Dr. Chen.
Cal/OSHA fines Wal-Mart for hepatitis blue light special
You might expect reports of needlesticks in healthcare but not so with retail sales clerks.
That Cal/OSHA is fining a Yuba City, CA, Wal-Mart for alleged bloodborne pathogens violations with a contaminated price-tagging gun instructs on how businesses must be diligent in identifying hazards in the workplace.
Notes From the field: Why can’t I re-use the vacutainer tube holder?
During my OSHA inspections last week, I witnessed several phlebotomists removing contaminated needles from vacutainer tube holders. The OSHA Bloodborne Pathogens Standard [29 CFR 1910.1030(d)(2)(vii)(A)] addresses the “prohibition against the removal of contaminated needles from blood tube holders following a blood drawing procedure.”
Finding safety in poetry on Workers’ Memorial Day
For one day a year at least, this day, April 28, Workers Memorial Day, move beyond the usually dry and impersonal language of safety standards and training advice, and allow poetry to inform you on the deeply personal matter of not wanting to see any worker hurt or injured.
Top-ten list of OSHA interpretation letters
Another David whose last name also begins with an “L” has made a pretty good living with top-ten lists. So I’m giving you my top-ten list of OSHA interpretation letters to help resolve disputes about compliance with the bloodborne pathogens standard.
I find interpretation letters helpful in answering OSHA questions because they usually get at specific situations, whereas the standard is written too broadly to answer those “show-me-where-OSHA-says” challenges.
Ask the expert: Sinks in exam rooms
Q: Are there any OSHA regulations that speak to the need for a sink to be in every exam room in an office practice setting?
A: A sink is not required in every exam room, but hand hygiene facilities must be readily available. This usually means having a hand sanitizing dispenser in the room.
Doc’s penchant for doing laundry not an OSHA violation, but hold the starch
Doctors insistent on having it their way in a practice is nothing new, but did you ever hear of a doctor who wants to launder her patients’ examination gowns?
A Medical Environment Update subscriber asked if home laundering of patient exam gowns was an OSHA violation. It seems that an OB/GYN, who is an employee of the practice, so strongly objects to the paper exam gowns routinely used—she is concerned about the comfort factor—that she wants the practice to provide cloth gowns. To defray any cost-prohibitive objections, she will launder the gowns herself, at home.
