Prevention and Management of Occupational Exposures

Abstract

It’s a busy, busy morning. Two additional emergency patients had to be worked into an already jammed schedule. You and the whole staff are rushing, distracted, and multitasking. You have just administered the local anesthesia when you hear your assistant mutter, ouch! You ask, what did you say? He or she responds, I think just stuck myself with a needle! When the assistant removes their glove there is a small, bleeding puncture wound on her finger. Yes, the individual was stuck by a contaminated needle. What do you do? What are the national, state, and local recommendations when a health-care worker (HCW) has an occupational exposure? How can these events be prevented? What are the risks of blood-borne disease [human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), hepatitis B virus (HBV), and hepatitis C virus (HCV)] transmission from occupational exposures? These questions will be answered in this Chapter which will explain the types of exposures, safer handling of sharps to prevent injury/exposure, the risk of disease transmission, and the requirements for postexposure management and prophylaxis.