Abstract
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) have recommended that health care workers use appropriate barriers, referred to as universal precautions, to protect themselves against exposure to the blood and body fluids of all patients. The CDC has suggested that the use of universal precautions eliminates the need for the isolation category blood and body fluid precautions (BBFP). There has been discussion concerning the feasibility of applying these precautions to all patients. Tangential issues involving screening of all hospitalized patients and whether or not informed consent should be required before such testing occurs are also being debated.The purpose of the current study was to survey those attending a meeting of The Society of Hospital Epidemiologists of America (SHEA) in October 1987 to determine their opinions on these issues and their hospitals' actual practices with regard to universal precautions, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) screening, and informed consent.
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
