Health care personnel pose a risk of acquiring and transmitting infections and communicable diseases to residents, visitors, families and other staff members. Outbreaks and health care-associated infections have been linked to employees coming to work ill. It is important to educate health care workers when they should stay home from work and for how long, which communicable diseases need to be reported and how they can protect themselves from acquiring communicable diseases for safe health care delivery.
Employees should not come to work if they have:
- Diarrhea or watery stools (that is not associated with changes in diet)
- Blood in the stool (not explained by dietary changes, medication or hard stools)
- Vomiting
- Fever (temperature greater than 100F)
- Influenza-like illness
- New onset of jaundice
- New onset of a rash with fever
- Shingles like lesions
- Conjunctivitis (“Pink Eye”)
- Scabies or lice
- Hands, face or other exposed body parts where lesions are opened, purulent, foul smelling or weepy (such as boils, abscesses, infected wounds, regardless of size)
- Any communicable disease exposures. Including but not limited to:
- Chicken pox
- Pertussis
- Measles
- Mumps
- Mycobacterium tuberculosis (excludes latent TB)
- Hepatitis A
- Management of potentially infectious exposures among health care workers is key to preventing transmission to residents, visitors and other staff.
Federal Requirements
Federal requirements that are in place to manage employee exposures and illness include:
- Employer inquiry about infectious illnesses
- Provision of exposure or illness management services
- Notification of health care workers potentially exposed to infectious pathogens
- Work Restrictions
- Sick Leave
- Expert consultation and management services
- Outbreak detection and management
- Reporting health care worker exposures and illnesses.
Employee Vaccinations
Employee influenza vaccinations should be offered during flu season. Immunizations for Hepatitis A and Hepatitis B should also be offered. Employees must have state mandated vaccinations documented or titers done prior to orientation. All employees are encouraged to have documentation of current immunizations including tetanus, diphtheria, pertussis, measles, mumps, rubella, and varicella. CDC guidelines will be followed for all vaccination scheduling.
Recommended adult immunization schedule for ages 19 years or older in the United States >