Question
What are occupational safety health administration (OSHA) standards on universal precautions?
Answer
- Using disposable gloves and other protective barriers while examining all patients and while handling needles, scalpels, and other sharp instruments
- Washing hands and other skin surfaces that are contaminated with blood or body fluids immediately after a procedure or examination
- Changing gloves between patients and never reusing gloves
Universal precautions are an approach to infection control recommended by the CDC and OSHA. According to universal precautions, all human blood and certain human body fluids are treated as if they are known to be infectious for various things, such as HIV, hepatitis, and other bloodborne pathogens. Work practical controls are controls that will reduce the likelihood of exposure by altering the manner in which a task is performed. For example, let's say you have to do a specific task. Needles are the easiest to talk about when doing something with sharps. A work practice control might be something like you are prohibited from recapping that by a two-handed technique. You have to use a one-handed scoop. That would potentially protect you from not an actual exposure incident.
The OSHA standards are crystal clear about practicing universal precautions. We should observe these to prevent contact with blood or other potentially infectious materials. When you are not sure, you cannot differentiate. It is not clear. Treat it as if it is infectious. It is always better to protect yourself than to take that risk. I think way back when we started doing a lot of these things, there was this worry, Am I going to be offensive to my patient? Are they going to think that I think they have something? I do not think that is the case anymore. If nothing else, as we have come through COVID. As a strong expectation that we wear gloves and masks as these things are very standard practices. It is a good thing. It is nice to see that we have gotten there. This approach treats all human blood body fluids as if they contain bloodborne pathogens. What do universal precautions include? It's disposable gloves and other protective barriers.
This Ask the Expert is an edited excerpt from the course, Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Bloodborne Pathogens Standards: What You Need to Know, presented by Kathleen Weissberg, OTD, OTR/L, CMDCP, CDP, CFPS.
