ATEP Communicable Diseases Policy

The Center for Disease Control (CDC) outlines specific policies for minimizing exposure of communicable diseases within health care facilities and between health care providers and patients.  The Bethel University Athletic Training Education Program is educating health care providers and we choose to use the following provisions to manage communicable diseases that may arise in our on campus athletic training room and in off-campus affiliated sites.

GUIDELINES: (CDC Personnel Health Guideline, 1998)

• A Well-defined policy must be in place, concerning contact of personnel with patients when personnel have potentially transmissible conditions.

• The policy should include:

  • Personnel responsibility in using the health service and reporting illness
  • Work restrictions
  • Clearance for work after an illness that required work restriction.

• Identify the person with authority to relieve personnel of duties.

• Develop work-exclusion policies that encourage personnel to report their illnesses or exposures and that do not penalize them with loss of wages, benefits, or job status.

• Educate and encourage personnel who have signs and symptoms of a transmissible infectious disease to report their condition promptly to their supervisor and occupational health.

• Provide appropriate education for personnel on the importance of good hygienic practices, especially hand washing and covering the nose and mouth when coughing and sneezing.

POLICY:

If an athletic training student becomes ill, he/she should report to the Student Health Center on campus or to another medical practitioner for evaluation. Upon evaluation the medical practitioner will determine the appropriate intervention needed and the amount of time the student shall remain out of contact with others to prevent transmission.

If the athletic training student acquires a communicable disease, the student will notify their Approved Clinical Instructor (ACI) as soon as possible. The ACI will then notify the Clinical Coordinator of the athletic training student’s condition including the amount of time the student will be absent from the clinical experience. A signed release from a medical practitioner may be required with certain illnesses, prior to resuming clinical experiences. The Center for CDC provides these preventative guidelines for the reporting of communicable disease with health care facilities.  These regulations are designed to provide for the uniform awareness, prevention, and reporting of diseases in order that appropriate control measures may be instituted to interrupt the transmission of disease.   Since Athletic Training students are providing direct health care to patients under the supervision of an ACI, the appropriate precautions must be utilized.  Any student who acquires any of the listed communicable disease will be dismissed from the clinical experience at Bethel University or other affiliated sites until a medical practitioner has deemed the student non-contagious.

Communicable Diseases sited by the CDC:

• Bloodborne pathogens
• Conjunctivitis
• Cytomegalovirus
• Diptheria
• Gastrointestinal infections, acute
• Hepatitis A
• Herpes simplex
• Measles
• Meningococcal disease
• Mumps
• Parovirus
• Pertussis
• Poliomyelitis
• Rabies
• Rubella
• Scabies and pediculosis
• Staphylococcus aureus infection and carriage
• Streptococcus infection
• Tuberculosis