AIDS

WHEREAS, the number of new confirmed cases of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) continues to double each year; and

WHEREAS, there is serious potential for occupational exposure to this infectious and fatal disease by nurses and other patient care personnel, medical diagnosticians and laboratory workers, visiting nurses and home health care providers, ambulance workers and emergency services technicians; and

WHEREAS, this infectious and fatal disease is a major concern of health services workers:

RESOLVED, that the American Federation of Teachers/Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals propose the following guidelines for use by health services providers in the development of responsible policies and procedures for controlling the spread of AIDS and reducing the risks associated with occupational exposure to this illness:

• Policies and procedures for eliminating risks associated with occupational exposure to AIDS should reflect consultation with designated employee representatives and public health officials. Said policies shall include adequate levels of qualified staff, appropriate instruction and training for all direct care and support personnel, a safe and hazard-free physical environment, effective infection-control procedures for the disposal of contaminated materials, especially needles, syringes, scalpel blades and other sharp items.

• Information regarding a patient's HIV status should not be withheld from health services workers involved in his or her case.

• Health care employers must provide all employees with a continuing program of instruction in the epidemiology of AIDS, specific occupational dangers and safe work practices.

• Health care employers must provide adequate, appropriate and readily accessible protective outerwear including gowns, gloves, masks, eye coverings and resuscitation bags or other ventilation devices as necessary or requested by individual health care workers to comply with the universal blood precautions recommended by the Centers for Disease Control. In addition, health care workers in non-hospital settings should be provided with proper equipment and receptacles for the handling and disposal of contaminants, as well as sufficient and appropriate supplies of disinfectants.

• The necessity for exercising special precautions, restrictions, changes in job assignments or interruption of employment with regard to individual health services employees with AIDS should be determined in a fair and equitable fashion on a case-by-case basis. Health services workers with AIDS should be permitted to obtain medical evaluations by independent practitioners not associated with the employer. Individual health services workers with AIDS shall not be deprived of due process in connection with determinations resulting in the exercise of special precautions, restrictions or the interruption of employment.

• AFT/FNHP negotiate, wherever possible, appropriate alternatives for health care professionals with AIDS who are unable to continue work.

• As new information regarding the epidemiology of AIDS becomes available through the Public Health Service and other responsible agencies and researchers, health services employers should continue to consult with their employee representatives in order to effect changes in policies or procedures as indicated; and

RESOLVED, that the American Federation of Teachers/Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals shall call upon the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to develop and promulgate safety standards with respect to the presence of contagious and infectious diseases in the workplace; and

RESOLVED, that the American Federation of Teachers/Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals will continue to cooperate with affiliates and with responsible government, professional, industry and consumer representatives in efforts to control the spread of AIDS while assuring that safe, appropriate and responsible care is provided to all who need it.