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This is a copy of the letter Jonathan Snare, administrator for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration sent to Rep. Roger Wicker (R-MS) on the issue of annual fit-testing.
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Periodic, not annual, fit-testing will continue to be the watchword in the tuberculosis guidelines that currently are being finalized by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The CDC has declined to define periodic, leaving the decision to individual health care facilities.
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Pressure is building on hospitals to obtain signed declination statements from health care workers who choose not to receive the influenza vaccine. Two federal advisory panels considered the declination policy as just another possible strategy to boost vaccination rates and monitor employee response to vaccination efforts. But some employee health professionals worry that it would become a de facto guideline and would create a new paperwork burden as they struggle to track down employees and verify their vaccination status.
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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends varicella vaccination for susceptible health care workers, especially if they have close contact with patients who are at high risk for serious complications. That includes premature infants born to susceptible mothers, infants who are born at less than 28 weeks of gestation or who weigh less than 1,000 g at birth (regardless of maternal immune status), pregnant women, and immunocompromised people.
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June Fisher, MD, director of the Training for Development of Innovative Control Technologies (TDICT) Project in San Francisco, offers the following advise about establishing a sharps safety evaluation program.
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See one; do one; teach one isnt an adequate training plan for medical residents when it comes to sharps safety. Reducing needlesticks requires a sustained, comprehensive approach with ongoing opportunities for training, notes Annemarie Leyden, EdD, RN, chief of learning resources at the VA New York Harbor Healthcare (NYH) System, Brooklyn campus.
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Health care epidemiologists are reporting an increase in bloodstream infections (BSIs) due to the use of needleless mechanical valve devices that connect to central venous catheters. Originally intended to prevent needlesticks and protect health care workers from bloodborne infections, the devices now appear to be increasing the risk of BSIs in patients.
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The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations requires that health care facilities adopt the most strongly recommended hand hygiene measures in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines.
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Surveyors from the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations are putting an unprecedented emphasis on infection controls most frustrating problem hand washing.
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The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) updated its recommendations for influenza vaccination with these key points.
