Healthcare compliance has become a critical concern for medical practitioners because their reputation is at stake.

Also, the rules are changing quite frequently for such practitioners.

As per OSHA guidelines, the doctors must take care of specific requirements according to which they can’t risk spreading infections. The doctors are required to follow specific protocols due to the contagiousness of the COVID-19 disease. This implies that they have to take precautions to prevent the spread of the disease. The healthcare employees must also ensure that they must be wearing PPE’s when they are in contact with such patients. If possible, the communication with such patients should be done through closed-circuit television systems if there is no need for a doctor to be in proximity to the patient. And even though the doctors might be wearing PPE’s, they should refrain from touching infecting surfaces such as doorknobs and light switches of the patient’s room. This is because they can spread the virus by touching other surfaces with their gloved hands. 

These guidelines have been issued specifically during the times of the pandemic.

But otherwise in general conditions also the healthcare workers are restricted from eating and drinking in those work areas where there is a high risk of exposure to blood-borne pathogens.

Hence, healthcare compliance training is critical in this regard because OSHA has mandated it. OSHA also requires that medical workers coming into contact with Hepatitis B patients must be vaccinated prior to such exposure.

Whenever doctors, nurses are treating patients carrying blood-borne pathogens, they are required to be trained for it. It’s the job of the employer to provide such training without any cost to the employees. The employees should not be expected to overstay for such training, and hence it should be arranged during the hospital hours.

Examples of such patients are those suffering from Hepatitis B and the Human immunodeficiency virus.

The medical employees must wash their hands after coming in contact with the blood of such patients.

Cleaning of hands

When the employer is not able to provide handwashing facilities, he must ensure that there is the provision of paper towels and antiseptics and handwashing must be done as soon as it’s available.

It’s an employer’s responsibility to ensure that even though workers in high-risk exposure to blood-borne pathogens are wearing gloves, they still wash their hands after taking them off.

Disposal of contaminated needles

If employees have used needles for injecting such a patient, these objects should be immediately stored in labeled containers so that they are not accessed.

Hence, it’s the responsibility of the employer who treats patients with such diseases that the risk of exposure is minimized. Therefore, it’s his duty as per the OSHA guidelines that all employees have hard copies of the Exposure Control Plan with them. This plan will be changed annually depending upon the possibility of the development of new technology which eradicates such exposure.

Adequate records of such training sessions have to be maintained, including the dates on which they were held, including who attended them. These training records should have the employer for 3 years since the training was held and hence provided to the employees or employee representatives if requested.

Therefore, medical organizations must provide healthcare compliance training to see no such rules are flouted.