Hepatitis outbreak in NH strikes fear in 7 other states

[sinkingfeeling]

http://www.cnn.com/2012/07/25/health/hepatitis-c-infections/index.html?hpt=hp_t3

(CNN) -- Hospitals in at least eight states want to know how many hundreds or thousands of their patients have come in contact with a lab technician accused of spreading hepatitis C.

He was arrested this month in New Hampshire in connection with spreading the disease at Exeter Hospital and has been charged with obtaining controlled substances by fraud and tampering with a consumer product, according to an affidavit filed in federal court. He is suspected of stealing Fentanyl, a powerful anesthetic that is substantially more potent than morphine, the affidavit said.

Kwiatkowski, 33, worked as a traveling medical technician on a contract basis for hospitals in Arizona, Georgia, Kansas, Maryland, Michigan and New York in the last five years, hospitals and health officials in those states confirmed. U.S. Attorney John P. Kacavas in New Hampshire said he also worked in Pennsylvania.

A negligence complaint and a class action lawsuit have been filed in U.S. District Court in Omaha, Nebraska, against Triage Staffing, a health care company that hired and placed Kwiatkowski at Exeter.

[Warpy]

1. I was an agency nurse in Boston

and more than once I came into a shift right after another agency nurse had been caught diverting narcotics. While most health care workers I've known who have been users have been on regular staff, it does seem that some like to keep moving and are contract workers.

Still, it takes a huge amount of ingenuity for a medical technician to be able to do this. They usually have no contact with that narcotics lock box or with medications during procedures.

I just wish they'd stop transmitting their deadly diseases in the process. I hope he was less efficient at doing so than this article suggests.

[1StrongBlackMan]

2. Don't pre-employment physical batteries ...

test for Hepatitis?

[Heddi]

3. No, that would be discrimination

They don't test for HIV, or any other disease or disorder

Unless you're suggesting that people with HIV, AIDS, Hepatitis, etc, should not be allowed to work in the public health sector, which is an idea that we tended to abandon around, oh, 1985...

[1StrongBlackMan]

4. I was not trying to be a$$holeish; but ...

working in HR, I know that some communicable diseases are bars to employment in certain fields and I would have thought that Hep C, like TB, in healthcare would have been one of them.

But after researching the question, I've found that the determination turns on "the likelihood of transmission in the normal performance of duties."

So, since there are few healthcare jobs that entail a likelihood of the exchange of bodily fluids, Hep C (and HIV/AIDS) would not serve as a bar to employment, except for maybe in the fields of surgery and/or phlebotomy.

[Heddi]

5. I'm a nurse. I've been a phlebotomist.

All 2 of the needlestick injuries I've incurred have been from from patients. A needle has never gone into my skin and then into a patient's. That's a pretty impossible task. I suppose it could happen. Of all the hospital employees that I do post-exposure care on (health care workers who get needlestick or other exposure), none of them have ever been a case where the needle (or other sharp) was exposed to the employee then the patient. Usually an improperly disposed of sharp will puncture an employee, or when the needle is being withdrawn from the patient's arm (or wherever) it will stick the employee.

On top of that, the risk of acquiring hepatitis C from a needlstick injury is less than 1% chance, and even lower than that if you use a small gauge needle. High risk comes from big needles, large volumes of blood and large open wounds.

I remember hearing one that orthopedic surgeons had the highest rate of HepC, partly because of the microscopic bone fragements that fly around during ortho surgery. I don't know if it's true, but I could see it.

That being said, I don't see any reason that is based on science that would lead me to ever advocate the barring of people with hepatitis or AIDS (or syphilis or herpes or common warts or...) from being employed in any profession (aside from prostitution or pornography), especially the health care field. I'm no more risk to you, if I have HIV or HepC, as a nurse than I am if I work as a cashier at Safeway.

And unlike TB, which can be spread through casual contact (coughing, airborn exposure), HepC can't be spread through casual contact. Again, blood to blood via needlestick (the most common way of exposure in a health care setting) is less than 1% (and I think even lower than that).

[1StrongBlackMan]

6. I stand corrected ...

Information/education is a good thing.

Peace

[Heddi]

7. and for clarification

I didn't think your first post was beig assholish. It's a common thought that RNs, etc, aren't allowed to work in patient care if they are HIV/hep positive. Education is a wonderful thing! thanks for the conversation!