Hand Eczema in SPD

[Alena K]

I am looking for some written standards, publications, or guidelines stating that someone with severe hand eczema should not be working in sterile processing. It seems to me this is an infection control issue both to the person and to the patients. Does anyone know of some published articles or guidlines on this matter? I have looked throught ST-79 and have not found anything specific.

[pnothum]

Alena,

I have a person in SPD who has eczema and when she has a flair up she covers her hands. In decontam she always wears a cotton glove under her nitrile gloves and often puts stockentte on her arms to keep the plastic of the gown off of her skin. Your concern is well place related to the patinet but also to the staff member--when our skin integrity is not intact, it is an open port for bacteria to enter.

[Harvey Johnson]

Hi Alena,
(and a big welcome to you also, P. Nothum!)
I agree with your assesment of the situation and the advice.
AAMI ST79 section 4.4, addressing Health and personal hygiene advises working with your infection control dept to establish departmental policies for personnel at risk of transmitting or acquiring infectious diseases.
Hope this helps!
spd soup (aka Harvey Johnson)

[jrc]

I would contact employee health and infection control. They would have the information you need. Eczema is not infectious, so it probably does not constitute a hazard to your patients. Your staff member may be at increased risk if blisters form. I would think with reasonable accomodations, a person with eczema could work in sterile processing.

[stevep]

I agree. I don't think excema is infectious. I have a staff memeber that has it and has worked here for over 20 years. The bigger concern is protecting herself.

[Alena K]

I agree that excema is not infectious; that was not my concern. My concerns are for her own safety as well as for our patients. She admits to having noticable "fallout" on the Kimwrap when wrapping packages. The tissue cannot be sterilized so in theory it could harm a patient. She now wears a cottom glove liner with a non-latex glove over cover (before she was wearing only cotton liners with the fingers cut off) which has solved the issue for now.

[rometta kennedy]

Alena K It sounds like she has it under control,but as for the fallout i would see if a jacket with long sleeves and tight cuffs might help. also a disp gown like they wear in surgery might help.