CLINICAL LAB SCIENEC

112
ESSENTIALS OF CLINICAL LABORATORY SCIENCE
Introduction
Infection control is an all-encompassing program that is headed up by a committee
responsible for making policy and providing ongoing surveillance of
all aspects of hospital operations, with a goal of protecting both workers
and patients against hospital-acquired infections. Federal regulations address
some bloodborne and airborne organisms, called “covered organisms,” and
require that training be provided by the employer for these important organisms.
These include human immunodeficiency virus (HIV, the acquired immunodeficiency
syndrome [AIDS]–causing virus), hepatitis B virus (HBV), and
tuberculosis (TB). However, there are countless other pathogenic organisms to
which the health care worker may be exposed and should be made aware of.
Additional common and important organisms, of necessity, must be included
in infection control programs. There are inherent risks in the hospital from
which patients, visitors, and workers must be protected. All health care workers
must be aware of their responsibility for avoiding infection or creating
situations apt to cause infectious disease, while protecting their patients and
sometimes visitors.
What is infection control and why is it important? In other chapters of this
book, some of the basics for bloodborne and airborne infections are specifically
discussed. The bloodborne and airborne pathogens section in this chapter
is focused mainly toward the individual. Infection control programs, however,
focus on the institution, for the protection of the individual worker as well as the
patient. Infection is defined as the invasion and multiplication of any organism
that has the potential to harm the body of a human or other organism. Infection
control for a medical facility where patients may contract an infection while hospitalized
is one of the most important facets of the holistic approach to delivery
of health care. Most diseases in humans either are or were the result of an infectious
process where pathogenic organisms invaded and set up residence in the
human body. In some disease states, an infection may have subsided or have been
overcome, but the damage done causes lasting problems for the victim, leaving
him or her with permanent problems that may shorten or limit the enjoyment of
life. The focus in this chapter is to acquaint the medical worker or student with
the methods used by most health care institutions to protect their workers and
patients from infection.
Covered Bloodborne and Airborne Pathogens
Only a few organisms that may cause serious diseases or death are classified as
“covered pathogens.” These are deemed by the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC) as having sufficient impact on the medical community that
they require special training and responses to the infections they cause. They
are termed bloodborne and airborne pathogens and include HIV, HBV, and TB
organisms. These organisms are given special status in the orientation and training
of new health care workers. These are not the only diseases that are of great
import for the medical laboratory worker, but following guidelines for prevention
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