Infection Control for Law Enforcement
08 TCLEOSE credit hours, reported under course #3800
8a - 5p
Instructor: Shirley Broyles, LVN
Tuition: $25 per student
The following excerpt was taken with permission from pp. 1-2 of
Silent War: Infection Control for Law Enforcement
(©1996 OnGUARD, Inc. Loveland, CO; ISBN 1-56916-710-9), the textbook for this course.
As a law enforcement officer, you're at risk of exposure to communicable diseases. No matter what your duties -- whether you're rendering first aid, arresting a suspect, booking a prisoner, controlling an assailant, processing a crime scene, investigating a traffic accident, or responding to a domestic dispute -- you have the potential of coming in contact with body fluids, contaminated needles, and airborne particles that may be infectious. If you work in a correctional institution, you routinely deal with individuals whose past or present behaviors place them at high risk of developing diseases such as AIDS and hepatitis B. In some prisons, tuberculosis, another communicable disease, infects up to 50% of inmates.
Communicable diseases (also known as contagious diseases) can be thought of as silent assailants. They don't shout or brandish guns, but they can be deadly in their assaults. To avoid becoming infected with a communicable disease, you need to know how such diseases are transmitted and how to protect your own health and the health of the people you serve. Training in these areas is essential.
KEY POINTS:
Communicable diseases are on the rise. These diseases include not only HIV/AIDS, but also hepatitis B, tuberculosis, and other diseases.
As a police officer, you face an increased risk of being exposed to or becoming infected with a communicable disease on the job.
You have a duty to protect yourself, your family and loved ones, your coworkers, the people you deal with, and the community you serve from communicable disease.
There are developing legal concerns regarding citizens' civil rights in areas such as confidentiality of communicable disease status and discrimination based on disease status.
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Updated 06/22/2006