Welcome to the ProBloodborne course! In this course, you'll learn:
- How to protect yourself or other employees from getting bloodborne diseases
- What potential diseases you could get by coming into contact with blood and other bodily fluids
- What to do if someone at your workplace comes into contact with blood and bodily fluids
The goal of this course is simple – To help you get the information you need, including the skills and knowledge to prevent diseases from bloodborne pathogens.
Who is the ProBloodborne Course For?
This course is for anyone who needs OSHA compliant bloodborne pathogens and infection control training according to OSHA's Bloodborne Pathogens Standard (29 CFR 1910.1030) as part of their job requirement.
People who may face exposure to bloodborne pathogens and infectious diseases who need this course include:
- Healthcare providers
- Daycare providers
- Homecare workers
- Teachers
- Tattoo artists
- General workplace employees
The ProBloodborne training course follows the OSHA standard requirements, which states:
- Proper training is required at the time of initial assignment to tasks where occupational exposure may take place.
- Annual training of all employees shall be provided within one year of their previous training.
- Employers shall provide additional training when changes occur, such as the modification of tasks or procedures, or when the institution of new tasks or procedures affect the employee's occupational exposure. The additional training may be limited to addressing the new exposures created.
What Does the ProBloodborne Course Include?
This course includes the following training. You'll learn about:
- Basic terms related to bloodborne pathogens
- How bloodborne pathogens and infectious diseases are spread
- The responsibilities of healthcare professionals to avoid spreading bloodborne pathogens and infectious diseases
- HIV and AIDS
- Hepatitis B
- Hepatitis C
- How to reduce the risks of exposure
- Engineering controls
- Workplace practices to protect yourself and other employees
- Personal protection equipment
- Safe injection practices
- Skin diseases
- Exposure control plans
- Proper cleanup and decontamination procedures
- Hazardous disposal
- Follow-up procedures when incidents occur
Got Questions? We Have Answers!
Don't forget, whenever you have questions, we have an interactive system in place to answer them, whether by email, chat, or phone support. In this course, as with all of our courses, you are never alone.
A Word About How Diseases are Spread
In the next lesson, we'll be diving deeper into how bloodborne pathogens and OPIM (other potentially infectious materials) are spread. So, consider this a short primer to get you ready.
Exposure to blood and infectious diseases occurs across a wide variety of occupations, as you've already seen, including healthcare workers, emergency response providers, public safety personnel, and other workers, particularly those involved in body arts like tattoos and piercings. Exposure can occur both directly and indirectly.
Direct contact transmission occurs when infected blood or OPIM from one person enters the body of another. For example, direct contact transmission can occur through infected blood splashing in the eye or from directly touching the OPIM of an infected person.
Some bloodborne pathogens are also transmitted by indirect contact. Indirect contact transmission can occur when a person touches an object that contains the blood or OPIM of an infected person. These objects include soiled dressings, equipment, and work surfaces contaminated with an infected person's blood or OPIM.
For example, indirect contact can occur when a person picks up blood-soaked bandages with a bare hand and the pathogens enter through a break in the skin on that person's hand.
For any bloodborne disease to spread, all five of the following conditions must be met:
- There must be an adequate number of pathogens or disease-causing organisms in the environment.
- There needs to be a reservoir or source that allows the pathogen to survive and even multiply, such as blood.
- There must be a mode of transmission from source to host.
- There must be an entrance through which the pathogen enters the host.
- The host must be susceptible to that pathogen, as opposed to being immune to it.
To understand how infections occur, think of these five conditions as pieces of a puzzle. All of the pieces must be in place for the picture to be complete. If any one of the conditions is missing, an infection cannot occur.