Professional Caregiver Blog

In 1991 Senate Bill 198 was passed into law. This bill made it mandatory that every employer in California have a written Injury and Illness Prevention Program to inform employees of hazards in the workplace, and employers are to provide ongoing training in a variety of areas. Two areas of training include Universal Precautions and Bloodborne Pathogens. The information below discusses Universal Precautions and serves as a great guideline for precautions in the workplace.

Universal Precautions

Universal precautions, as defined by CDC, are a set of precautions designed to prevent transmission of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), hepatitis B virus (HBV), and other bloodborne pathogens when providing first aid or health care. Under universal precautions, blood and certain body fluids of all patients are considered potentially infectious for HIV, HBV, and other bloodborne pathogens.

Universal precautions took the place of and eliminated the need for the isolation category “Blood and Body Fluid Precautions” in the 1983 CDC Guidelines for Isolation Precautions in Hospitals. However, implementing universal precautions does not eliminate the need for other isolation precautions, such as droplet precautions for influenza, airborne isolation for pulmonary tuberculosis, or contact isolation for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.

Guidelines for Universal Precautions

1. Gloves will be worn when touching blood, body fluids, body substances, and mucous membranes.
2. Gloves will be worn when there are cuts, breaks, or openings in the skin.
3. Gloves will be worn when there is possible contact with urine, feces, vomits, dressing wound drainage, soiled linen, or soiled clothing.
4. Masks, goggles, or face shields are worn when splattering or splashing of blood or body fluids is possible (this protect your eyes and mucous membranes of your mouth). Gowns or aprons are worn when splashing, splattering, smearing, or soiling from blood or body fluids is a risk.
5. Avoid nicks or cuts when shaving residents.
6. Handle razor blades and other sharp objects carefully to avoid injury to the resident or yourself.
7. Use resuscitation devices when mouth-to-mouth resuscitation is required.
8. Avoid resident contact when you have open skin wounds or lesions. Discuss the situation with your supervisor.
9. Hands and other body parts must be washed immediately if contaminated with blood or body fluids.
10. Hands must be washed immediately after removing gloves.
11. Hands must be washed after contact with the resident.

Providers are reminded that they are required by OSHA to provide training to their staff on Universal Precautions and bloodborne pathogens. Providers are also reminded that they are required to provide staff with the necessary supplies (gloves, sharps containers, etc.) to follow Universal Precautions.

Resources

www.cdc.gov

www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dhqp/bp.html

www.advhs.com

• Bloodborne Pathogens: HIV, Hepatitis, & Standard Precautions (training video)
• Infection Control (training video)
• Cal OSHA compliance kit (coming soon)

Tags: , assisted living, Continuing Education, GH, Group Home, RCFE, Resident Care, residential care, staff training //