Feds launch hotline for bloodborne exposures
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has set up a national toll-free hotline to help occupational health managers and others counsel and treat health care workers with job-related bloodborne pathogens exposures.
By calling (888) 448-4911, practitioners gain access to the National Clinicians’ Postexposure Prophylaxis Hotline (PEPline), which is staffed by physicians trained to provide information, counseling, and treatment recommendations for HCWs who have needlestick injuries and other serious occupational exposures to bloodborne pathogens such as HIV or hepatitis.
PEPline combines and expands two existing programs at San Francisco General Hospital (SFGH): the National HIV Telephone Consultation Service (Warmline), and the University of California San Francisco/SFGH Epidemiology and Prevention Interventions (EPI) Center Needlestick Hotline. PEPline is a joint project of the Health Resources and Services Administration and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
"This new service gives health care workers at the front line of health care delivery all the options to better protect them from occupational injuries," says HHS Secretary Donna E. Shalala. "Clinicians no matter when they call or where they live can now quickly get state-of-the-art knowledge about how to help health care workers with needlestick injuries."
The CDC estimates at least 5,000 needlestick exposures occur annually. Because underreporting is widespread, the actual number probably is much higher. One published study estimates that approximately 800,000 contaminated needlesticks and sharps injuries occur in health care settings every year, and that about 16,000 of them are HIV-contaminated.1
PEPline co-directors Ronald H. Goldschmidt, MD, Warmline director, and Julie Gerberding, MD, EPI Center director, say antiretroviral therapy is a potential lifesaver and should be started as soon as possible after an exposure.
Reference
1. Jagger J, Pearson RD. Universal precautions: Still missing the point on needlesticks. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 1991; 12:211-213. t
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