Laserfiche WebLink
UNIVERSAL PRECAUTIONS <br />(BSI - Body Substance Isolation) <br />POLICY <br />The body substance precautions system outlined in the following pages is -to be <br />followed by ALL personnel, at ALL times, for ALL patients, regardless of the <br />patient's diagnosis. <br />PURPOSE <br />1. To provide consistent approach to managing body substance from ALL <br />patients. <br />2. To focus on the care providers INTERACTION with the patient at the time. <br />rather than on the DIAGNOSIS of the patient. <br />3. To focus on providing/utilizing appropriate barriers (gloves, gowns/aprons, <br />masks, eye coverings) to protect personnel from all contacts with body <br />substances. <br />4. To reduce the risk of transmitting poter`ially infectious agents by the <br />consistent use of barriers whenever any body substances are likely to be in <br />contact with the caregivers hands. <br />PROCEDURE <br />1. Introduction <br />For many years, "isolation" has been viewed as the cornerstone to a <br />hospital's p4ogram of infection prevention and control. This concept is an <br />outgrowth of the earlier practice of placing patients with selected <br />diagnosed diseases in quarantine. In actual hospital practice, it is more <br />reliable and makes far more sense to provide the same high level of <br />infection precautions for all patients, rather than singling out only those <br />with diaagnosed infections and then performing special practices only for <br />them. <br />The system is called UNIVERSAL PRECAUTION BODY SUBSTANCE ISOLATION because <br />it focuses on isolating body substances (blood, feces, urine, wound <br />drainage, oral secretions, etc.) from the hands of personnel, primarily by <br />increased glove use and handwashin. Thus, the system eliminates many of <br />the ritualistic practices associated with traditional isolation systems <br />while increasing the -use of barriers for all contacts with body substances. <br />The BODY SUBSTANCE ISOLATION SYSTEM is consistent with reconrtendations from <br />the Centers for Disease Control, OSHA, UCSF Task Force on AIDS, and San <br />Jose Hospital Task Force on AIDS that point out the need to consider ALL <br />blood and body fluids as potentially infectious, regardless of the <br />patient's diagnosis. In order to follow these recoramendations, the need to <br />use barriers must focus on the care provider's I14TERACTION with the <br />