PURPOSE / SCOPE:
Students exposed to infectious diseases should seek immediate medical attention. Students presenting with signs or symptoms of infectious or communicable disease should consult with appropriate ICOM faculty/staff, their healthcare provider or the infection control office at the clinical site about the advisability of working with patients and when it is safe to return to patient care.
Standard Precautions-
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has developed precautions to prevent accidental spread of infectious disease to both students and patients. These include:
Hand washing (or using an antiseptic hand rub)
- After touching blood, body fluids, secretions, excretions, and contaminated items.
- Immediately after removing gloves
- Between patient contact
Gloves
- For contact with blood, body fluids, secretions, and contaminated items
- For contact with mucous membranes and non-intact skin
Masks, googles, face masks
- Protect mucous membranes of eyes, nose and mouth when contact with blood and body fluids is likely
Gowns
- Protect skin from blood or body fluid contact
- Prevent soiling of clothing during procedures that may involve contact with blood or body fluids
Linen
- Handle soiled linen to prevent touching skin or mucous membranes
- Do not pre-rinse soiled linens in patient care areas
Patient care equipment
- Handle soiled equipment in a manner to prevent contact with skin or mucous membranes and to prevent contamination of clothing environment
- Clean reusable equipment prior to reuse
Environmental cleaning
- Routinely care, clean, and disinfect equipment and furnishings in patient care areas
Sharps
- Avoid recapping used needles
- Avoid removing used needles from disposable syringes
- Avoid bending, breaking or manipulating used needles by hand
- Place used sharps in puncture-resistant containers immediately after use
Patient resuscitation
- Use mouthpieces, resuscitation bags or other ventilation devices to avoid mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.
Needle sticks
Incidents involving needle sticks and potential exposure to blood borne pathogens require immediate action to protect a student’s health and safety. If a student sustains a needle stick or is exposed to infectious materials, she/he should:
- Wash exposure site thoroughly with soap and water (or water only for mucous membranes).
- Immediately notify the clinical supervisor at the rotation site for assistance. For ICOM Campus exposures, notify the supervising faculty and the Laboratory and Safety Compliance Manager.
- Call/go to the emergency department, the occupational health clinic or area of the clinical facility designated for treating needle stick exposures. Consult concerning appropriate tests, risk-assessment counseling, and chemoprophylaxis.
- Coordinate treatment, testing and billing with ICOM Student Services.
- In the event of an exposure, the National Clinician’s Post Exposure Prophylaxis Hotline is available by phone (888) 448-4911, 11 a.m. – 8 p.m. ET (seven days a week) to provide guidance in managing exposures.
Incident Reporting
If a student suffers an accident or injury during an ICOM activity while on campus, the student must immediately report the injury to the supervising faculty and the Laboratory Safety and Compliance Manager even if the injury is minor. The student must complete and submit an incident report, and call/go to their healthcare provider. Incident reports forms will be available online, the Office of Student Affairs, the SIM department or the Research Lab. Notification of exposure/incident and near misses will be made to Student Services via a Google Form. All accidents or injuries will be investigated immediately to prevent others from suffering similar injuries and to improve teaching and lab practices.
If the accident occurs at a clinical training facility, that facility’s incident report form should be completed, and the clinical supervisor, Regional Dean or Regional Clinical Coordinator should be contacted for assistance. A copy of the facility’s incident report must be sent to the ICOM Office of Clinical Affairs.
OSHA and HIPAA Training
ICOM requires all students receive training on the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).
ICOM ensures the privacy and security of patient health information. In the normal course of business and operations, individuals receive requests to disclose patient health information for various purposes.
To support our commitment to patient confidentiality, ICOM ensures that the appropriate steps are taken to verify the identity and authority of individuals and entities requesting protected health information, as required under 45 C.F.R. §164.514(h) and other applicable federal, state, and/or local laws and regulations.
Additionally, Idaho College of Osteopathic Medicine’s will ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of its information systems containing electronic protected health information by implementing policies to prevent, detect, mitigate, and correct security violations.
ICOM will ensure it is in compliance with the US Department of Health and Human Services’ Privacy Rule as it applies to the creation, collection, use or disclosure of all individual health information (whether identifiable or not) (“Information”) in connection with ICOM.
In addition, ICOM will require all students who have contact with patients receive OSHA Blood Borne Pathogens (BBP) training and be trained to prevent transmission of communicable pathogens. Students annually review OSHA rules and requirements and complete a yearly review of appropriate plans and practices.
ICOM has in place the following:
- Biohazardous Waste Disposal, including Recombinant Nucleic Acids SOP
- Biosafety Manual (includes Biological Materials Spill Mitigation Plan)
- Exposure Control Plan for Bloodborne Pathogens
The intent of these plans is to prevent blood borne infections by eliminating or minimizing employees and students’ exposure to blood, blood products, and other potentially infections materials.
POLICY OWNER:
Director of Human Resources
APPROVAL:
Effective: 6/7/22
Last Reviewed: 1/25/23
Review Requirement: 5 Years