SOP 210.01 COMMUNICABLE DISEASE PREVENTION & CONTROL ACT

The purpose of the communicable disease prevention and control act is to prevent the spread of diseases and to allow a notification system for those emergency personnel (police, firefighters, and EMS) who may have been exposed to a communicable disease during the course of employment.

PREVENTION

The first objective of this procedure will address prevention.

1. All fire department personnel shall use appropriate level of protective equipment for their own personal protection during transporting and providing care for all ambulance patients.

1. The protective equipment consists of the following:

disposable gloves

surgical mask

protective safety glasses

2. Personnel who have open wound or scratches shall cover these wounds with a watertight bandage when reporting for duty.

3. The ambulance units and equipment used shall be kept clean to prevent the spread of contagious disease.
1. All personnel will be provided with vaccinations and immunizations for the following:
1. diphtheria
2. polio
3. tetanus
4. If the employee has had DPT vaccination within ten (10) years, this vaccination will be maintained at expiration date.

PERSONNEL RESPONSIBILITIES

It is the responsibility of the transporter (peace officer, firefighters or EMS personnel) to notify the receiving hospital if there has been an exposure to a patient being transported as provided in the rules of the Texas Board of Health that define what conditions constitute exposure. See 25 T.A.C. Section 97.10.

The transporter shall complete the form "Report of Possible Exposure of Transporter". This form shall be available on the ambulance clipboard.

The transporter shall provide to the hospital the following information:

1. Transporters’ name Transporters’ home and work telephone numbers
2. Name, address, and telephone of transporter's employing agency
3. Patient's name
4. Type of exposure (e.g. mouth to mouth resuscitation, intubations, mucous membrane exposure to blood) and description of how exposure occurred, and
5. Date of transport

The transporter shall leave the completed form at the receiving hospital at a collection Point established by the hospital.

If a transporter is notified by his or her employer of an exposure, the transporter shall contact the Health Authority in accordance with the instructions received from the employer. The Health Authority will advise

the transporter of any medical prophylaxis or treatment that may be necessary. The transporter shall not contact the hospital under any conditions.

Excerpt from Rules for the Control of Communicable Diseases

25T.A.C. Section 97.10 Notification of Emergency Medical Service Employee, Peace Officer, or Firefighter of Possible Exposure to a Disease. Section 3.08 of the Act requires a licensed hospital to notify a local health authority in certain instances when an emergency medical service employee, a peace officer, or a firefighter may have been exposed to a communicable disease during the course of duty from a person delivered to the hospital under conditions that were favorable for transmission. The following guidelines are issued to designate diseases and conditions that constitute a possible exposure to the disease for the purposes of Section 3.08 of the Act:

1. Diphtheria, measles, meningococcal infections, pertussis, plague, rubella, tuberculosis, viral hemorrhagic fever if there has been an examination of the throat, intubations, auctioning, or mouth-to-mouth resuscitation;

2. Acquired immune deficiency syndrome, HIV. infection, malaria, plague, syphilis, viral hepatitis if there has been a needle-stick or other penetrating puncture of the skin with a used needle or other item; or either a splatter or aerosol into the eye, nose, or mouth or any significant contamination of an open wound or non-intact skin with blood or body fluids.

3. A hospital shall report to the local health authority the name of the transport person exposed, the date of exposure, the type of exposure, and the disease or condition to which exposure may have occurred.