Compendium of Veterinary Standard Precautions for zoonotic disease prevention in veterinary personnel: National Association of State Public Health Veterinarians: Veterinary Infection Control Committee 2015

Abstract

The VSP outlined in this compendium represent routine infection prevention practices designed to minimize transmission of zoonotic pathogens from animals to veterinary personnel. This compendium has been extensively revised and updated since the 2010 version.1 Importantly, the concept of occupational safety and health in veterinary medicine is beginning to achieve equity with employee safety and health in human health care. The NORA states that “[v]eterinary medicine and other animal care personnel are at substantial risk for various occupationally acquired injuries and illnesses, many of which parallel and even exceed those encountered in human healthcare.”2 The NORA had not previously addressed the veterinary medical workforce, but a shift occurred in 2013, when veterinary medical occupational safety and health was included as a component of the NORA. Preventing transmission of zoonotic diseases from animals to veterinary personnel represents 1 component of a comprehensive safety and health program. This compendium places infection prevention in this context and endorses the concept of conducting workplace risk assessments and using a hierarchy of controls to minimize employee safety and health risks. The hierarchy of controls refers to a range of measures that may be taken to reduce the risk posed by workplace hazards: elimination, substitution, engineering, and administrative procedures and use of PPE. A thorough review of the human and veterinary medical literature has been conducted and has resulted in updates to a number of recommendations. Of note, hand hygiene recommendations have been updated to embrace use of alcohol-based hand gels as an important strategy for improving overall hand hygiene compliance in veterinary clinical settings.