3-518 - Significant Exposure: Actions Taken by Medical Facility

Policy

If a physician determines that the MPD employee has suffered a “significant exposure” and the source individual is receiving treatment at a medical facility or is in-custody at the Hennepin County Jail, the medical facility will contact the source individual to obtain consent for a blood draw from the source individual (SI).

If the SI is not receiving treatment at the medical facility, the medical facility will make reasonable efforts to locate the SI and obtain consent. If the medical facility cannot identify or locate the SI, a representative from the Infection Control Unit will contact the MPD’s Health and Wellness Coordinator to inform the MPD the SI has not been contacted. The MPD may initiate actions to identify or locate the SI after receiving such notice.

• Significant Exposure:

  Having sustained a contact which carries a potential for a transmission of bloodborne pathogens by one or more of the following means:

  • A skin puncture by a needle or sharp object that has had contact with blood or body fluid from another person
  • Blood or bodily fluids of another person in contact with the mucus membranes or eyes
  • Any contamination of open skin (cuts, abrasions, blisters, open dermatitis) by blood or body fluids, or bites that break the skin
  • Blood or blood-containing fluids in contact with skin longer than 5 minutes

  Note: Fluids such as urine, saliva, vomit and stool are considered significant only when they contain visible blood. Significant exposure to diseases communicable by airborne transmission (including tuberculosis, chicken pox, measles, and pertussis) will be confirmed and follow-up will be determined with the help of Public Health.

• Source Individual: Source Individual (SI) is an individual, living or dead, whose blood, tissue, or potentially infectious body fluids may be a source of bloodborne pathogen exposure to another person. Examples include, but are not limited to, a victim of an accident, injury or illness, or a deceased person.