8 Things to Now About Bloodborne Pathogen Training

Bloodborne pathogen training which complies with Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) regulations is a program meant for people whose work exposes them to blood or other potentially infectious materials. For healthcare professional to better comprehend this training course and what it entails, certain terms have to be correctly understood. Following you will find the definition of some commonly used phrases in bloodborne pathogen training.

• A term used often within bloodborne pathogen training courses is contaminated. The term is used to describe the presence, or the reasonably presumed presence, of infected blood or other biological products (semen, saliva, vaginal secretions) on items or surfaces or the presence of pathogens in blood and other bodily fluids.

• Contaminated sharps refer to any object, contaminated with blood and bodily fluids that has the ability to penetrate the skin and transmit the pathogens to another person. These objects include scalpels, needles, broken glass, drainage tubes, and so on.

• Decontamination refers to the process of using physical (heat) or chemical (various substances) to inactivate or remove pathogens present on various surfaces and objects to the point where that specific surface or item no longer presents the risk of transmitting an infection.

• During training, participants will hear about engineering controls. This term is used to describe methods that can remove the risk of infections in a workplace. These methods include containers for the disposal of sharp instruments, needleless systems, proper instrument disinfection, and so on.

• Occupational exposure refers to an employee's reasonably anticipated contact with blood or other potential infected materials which occurs during the performance of his or her duties. Any kind of contact, whether it is through skin, eyes, membranes, or parenteral falls under the definition of occupational exposure.

• The Term "other potentially infectious materials" is used to describe any biological product, apart from blood, that can carry pathogens. These include bodily fluids, such as semen, vaginal secretions, pleural fluid, pericardial fluid, saliva, and any bodily fluid contaminated with blood. Other infectious materials are represented by human unfixed tissues or organs, organ and tissue cultures, and cultures from infected animals.

• Source individual is used to designate any person, living or dead, whose blood or bodily fluids can constitute a source of infection for employees. Source individuals include hospital patients, trauma victims, human remains, drug and alcohol rehabilitation patients, and blood donors.

• Universal precautions, apart from being training program itself, it is also another common term in bloodborne pathogen courses. The term designated an approach to disease control and according to it; all individual blood and physical fluid are treated as if they were infected with bloodborne pathogens.