Safety

Meetings for
Health Care
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Universal Precautions Lesson Plan
3030

Workers
Background for the Trainer
A. Introduction
Universal precautions define the overall approach to preventing job-related exposure to
bloodborne pathogens. They require treating all blood and potentially infectious body fluids
as if they are indeed infectious.
Universal precautions apply to every aspect of health care. Employees who take them seri-
ously reduce their own chances of contracting bloodborne disease and control the spread of
infection throughout the facility.
Note to hospitals: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has revised its
“Guideline for Isolation Precautions in Hospitals” (1996). They now recommend “Standard
Precautions,” which expand the precautions to reduce the risk of transmission of microor-
ganisms from both recognized and unrecognized sources of infection in hospitals. Standard
precautions will be treated in a separate section of this book.

B. Applicable Regulations
OSHA’s Bloodborne Pathogens Standard (29 CFR 1910.1030), CDC Guideline for Isolation
Procedures in Hospitals (Revised 1996)

C. Learning Objectives
At the conclusion of this training the trainee should:
1. Understand the meaning and importance of universal precautions.
2. Know how to apply universal precautions on the job.
3. As a result, take appropriate measures to prevent exposure to bloodborne pathogens.

At the Meeting
1 minute
A. Background
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When you work in health care, you’re used to taking precautions to protect patients. You
also, however, have to take precautions to protect yourself. One risk that health care work-
Training ers face is exposure to bloodborne pathogens. These microorganisms can carry serious
Content bloodborne diseases, such as HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, and HBV, the virus that causes
hepatitis B and can seriously or even fatally damage the liver.
A federal regulation, OSHA’s Bloodborne Pathogens Standard, is designed to minimize your
risk of exposure to these diseases. Perhaps its most important requirement is what’s known as
“universal precautions.” That means treating all human blood and other potentially infectious
body fluids as if they are definitely infected with bloodborne pathogens. Though the risk of
infection is small, universal precautions help protect you from even that minimal chance.

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Lesson Plan Universal Precautions
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4 minutes
B. Pre-Training Quiz
➜
Training
Use one or more of the following questions to help participants focus on the importance of universal
precautions. Briefly review their responses and the correct responses. The purpose is not to test or
Suggestion
grade their knowledge, but to help them recognize the value of these protective measures.
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1. You only need to follow universal precautions if you know a patient carries HBV or HIV.
(Answer: False. People who carry these viruses may have no symptoms and may not even
Training
Content know they’re infected. You must practice universal precautions at all times.)
2. Universal precautions mean you can’t touch anything that an infected patient touched.
True or false?
(Answer: False. HIV and HBV are only transmitted by blood and certain body fluids. There’s
no risk in touching dishes and similar items.)
3. Part of universal precautions is avoiding blood splashes, sprays, or spatters. True or false?
(Answer: True. You must both try to prevent these incidents and wear protective clothing to
keep you safe in case they do occur.)

2 minutes
C. Employer Policy
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Training
Briefly review your facility’s Bloodborne Pathogens Exposure Control Plan. Emphasize that:
Suggestion ● Universal precautions apply to everyone.
● Universal precautions do not limit ability to provide good patient care.

15 minutes
D. Main Points to Cover
1. Use Universal Precautions with All Body Fluids that Could Spread Infection.
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✚ Such fluids include:
Training ● Human blood, blood products, and blood components.
Content
● Semen or vaginal secretions.
● Cerebrospinal, synovial, pleural, pericardial, peritoneal, and amniotic fluids.
● Any unfixed tissue or organ other than intact skin from a living or dead person.
● Cells, tissues, or organ cultures that contain HIV.
● Culture mediums or solutions that contain HIV or HBV; tissues, organs, or blood from
experimental animals infected with HIV or HBV.
● Saliva in dental procedures.
● Any body fluid visibly contaminated with blood.
● Any body fluid you can’t distinguish from other body fluids.
—Only apply universal precautions to feces, nasal secretions, saliva, sweat, tears, urine,
or vomit when they contain visible blood.
Note: “Standard Precautions” apply to all body fluids except sweat and include non-intact
skin and mucous membranes.

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Universal Precautions Lesson Plan
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2. Always Follow Universal Precautions in Jobs and Tasks with a Risk of Exposure.
They include:
● Drawing blood or other body fluids, giving injections, and performing invasive procedures.
● Direct contact with lab specimens.
● Transporting blood and any contaminated or possibly contaminated materials including
sharps, trash, laundry, etc.
● Handling patient laundry.
● Cleaning areas that are or could be contaminated
● Working in an area or at a task where it’s unclear if there’s a risk of exposure to blood-
borne pathogens.
3. Use Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) as a Barrier Against Infection.
● Use all assigned PPE and inspect it before each use.
—Report and don’t use any PPE that’s damaged and can’t protect your skin and street
clothes from fluids.
● Wear gloves when you draw fluids, give injections, or touch or handle potentially
contaminated items or surfaces.
—Bandage cuts or broken skin before putting on gloves.
—Wear disposable gloves only once and replace them immediately if they’re torn or
contaminated.
—Change gloves between patients and procedures.
—Wear gloves that are tight enough and long enough to protect you from splashes
if necessary.
● Use masks and eye or face protection with solid side shields to protect mouth, eyes,
nose, and face from splashes, sprays, or spatters.
● Wear gowns, aprons, lab coats, and surgical caps when necessary to protect your body
from splashes, sprays, and spatters.
● Use shoe covers or boots if there’s a risk of exposure to large amounts of blood or body
fluids or possibly contaminated broken glass.
● Remove all PPE when it’s contaminated and before you go into a clean area or touch
clean items.
—Remove contaminated PPE so it doesn’t touch your skin.
—Put contaminated PPE in the assigned places for cleaning or disposal.
4. Practice Good Hygiene.
● Wash with soap and water as soon as possible after removing PPE, contacting potential-
ly infectious materials, or completing a patient procedure.
● Flush eyes, nose, and mouth with water after body fluid contact.
● Don’t eat, drink, smoke, apply cosmetics or lip balm, or handle contact lenses where
there’s a risk of bloodborne pathogens exposure.
—Don’t store food or drink in such areas.
● Don’t use your mouth to pipette or suction blood or other potentially infectious materials.

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Lesson Plan Universal Precautions
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5. Keep the Workplace Clean and Sanitary.
● Clean and decontaminate all equipment and surfaces after:
—Medical or research procedures.
—Any direct contact with potentially infectious materials.
—A work shift where contamination occurred.
● Follow workplace cleaning and decontamination schedule.
● Wear PPE while cleaning and decontaminating.
6. Follow Universal Precautions When Collecting, Handling, Storing, or
Transporting Potentially Infectious Materials.
● Use proper leakproof closable containers.
—They’re red or have an orange/orange-red biohazard symbol.
● Place leaking or contaminated containers in second leakproof container.
● Treat laundry as contaminated. Bag it where it’s used and sort and rinse it outside of
patient areas.
—Handle laundry as little as possible.
7. Follow Universal Precautions with All Sharps.
If your skin is cut with a contaminated sharp, it means pathogens will be directly injected
into your bloodstream.
● Don’t break or shear contaminated needles.
—Remove, bend, or recap them only if necessary and then with a mechanical device or
one-handed technique.
● Place used sharps immediately in assigned puncture-resistant, labeled, leakproof con-
tainers
● Don’t overfill or reach into sharps containers.
8. Report Any Exposure to Blood or Potentially Infectious Materials.
● Follow through with any medical consultation and testing your employer offers.

10 minutes
E. Practical Exercises and Discussion
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Training
Use one or more of the following to assure that participants understand the importance of universal
Suggestion
precautions.
➜ 1. Distribute copies of Handout 3030-25. Review the list of potentially infectious body flu-
ids and ask participants for examples of where they might encounter them on the job.
Handouts
3030-25 2. Distribute copies of Handout 3030-29. Go over the checklist, asking for volunteers to
3030-29
give examples of work situations where different points would apply.
3. Lead a discussion about the “philosophy” of universal precautions. Ask for volunteers
to describe why they think this very cautious safety approach is required. They should
include mention of the difficulty of identifying infected people or fluids, the overall value of
good hygiene, etc.
➜ 4. Distribute copies of Handout 3030-31 and ask participants to complete the quiz. Then
briefly review the answers with them and ask participants to sign, date, and turn in the quiz.
Handouts
3030-31 Keep the completed quizzes as records of training.

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Universal Precautions Lesson Plan
30301

2 minutes
F. Summary
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1. Universal precautions require health care workers to treat all human blood and
potentially infectious body fluids as if they are infected with bloodborne pathogens.
Training 2. Universal precautions apply not just to patient care but to cleaning, laundry, lab work,
Content
and transporting possibly contaminated materials.
3. Gloves are an important protection for anyone who practices universal precautions.
4. Protective clothing and eye and face coverings should be used where there’s a risk that
blood or other body fluids could splash, spray, or spatter.
5. It’s important to inspect protective clothing and equipment before use to make sure it’s
not torn or damaged.
6. Remove protective gloves and clothing before entering a clean area and without letting
contaminated items touch your skin.
7. Wash thoroughly with soap and water right after any patient procedure, potentially
infectious contact, or PPE removal.
8. Don’t eat, drink, smoke, apply cosmetics or lip balm, handle contact lenses, or keep
food or drinks in an area that might contain contaminated material.
9. Follow facility decontamination and cleaning schedules. Immediately clean and deconta-
minate any equipment or surface that might have contacted potentially infectious materials.
10. Handle all sharps with special caution to avoid needlesticks.
11. Place all used sharps, PPE, and other possibly contaminated items in proper leakproof,
closed, identified containers.
12. Report any possible exposure to bloodborne pathogens immediately and cooperate with
any medical consultation and testing.

2 minutes
G. Wrap-up
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Training
1. Ask if there are any questions or further discussion.
Suggestion 2. Hand out evaluation forms.
3. Collect the completed forms.
4. Thank the trainees for their participation.

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