A reminder that the healthcare can change in response to hazards. The first case of needlestick-transmitted HIV was reported in the Lancet in 1984, alerting the healthcare community to this new threat. In 1987, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) documented six cases of occupationally acquired HIV infection in the U.S., a report that sent shock waves through the healthcare community. In the 1980s, 17,000 healthcare workers used to contract and literally a planeload (300) of healthcare workers died one at a time essentially in silence every year from hepatitis B. The nickname for Hepatitis B during this era was the healthcare workers disease. Once there was a vaccine, most healthcare employers still refused to buy the vaccine due the cost ($130). It wasnt until after Labor Unions pushed for a Joint CDC/NIOSH/OSHA Alert in the late 1980s followed by a 5 year campaign resulting in a final OSHA Bloodborne Pathogen Standard (BBP) in 1991 - that required employers to provide the vaccine free of charge - that cases started to plummet. The incidence of occupational hepatitis B infections declined dramatically, from more than 17,000 cases in 1983, before the availability of the vaccine, to 400 in 1995 — a 95% decline and an amazing example of an OSHA success. The protection of healthcare workers from exposures to bloodborne pathogens, a life-threatening occupational risk in healthcare settings, was tragically neglected in the pre-AIDS era. This is clipped from the 1992 OSHA video, As It Should Be Done: Workplace Precautions Against Bloodborne Pathogens. 24 minute video explains how workers can protect themselves against occupational exposure to bloodborne pathogens, such as Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) and the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). This program is targeted primarily to health care workers and related professionals. The entire video is available on the OSHA website and at the Internet Archive.
Posted on: Mon, 13 Oct 2014 10:59:39 +0000
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