title: Standardizing the care of occupational blood-borne pathogen exposures to reduce unnecessary use of the emergency department.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Care of health care workers with a blood-borne pathogen (BBP) exposure who seek treatment in emergency departments needs to be standardized. A standardized system may lead to better care for exposed individuals.
  
  
  METHODS
  An interprofessional process was developed to standardize care of occupational BBP exposures in nonemployees. A health planning program design was conducted to compare outcomes before and after the standardized process was enacted.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Standardizing treatment of occupational exposures provided more efficient care for exposed nonemployee workers and allowed an improved use of ED resources.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Programs developed to improve utilization of the emergency department have a greater chance of success when developed using an interprofessional, collaborative approach.
authors.affiliation: Cincinnati, OH. Electronic address: lauri.heck@uchealth.com.
authors.forename: Lauri
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Heck
authors.affiliation: Cincinnati, OH.
authors.forename: Gordon Lee
authors.initials: GL
authors.lastname: Gillespie
authors.affiliation: Cincinnati, OH.
authors.forename: Christina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Hinkle
authors.affiliation: Cincinnati, OH.
authors.forename: Valorie
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Grant
mesh_terms: D017848:Blood-Borne Pathogens; D016529:Emergency Nursing; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital; D006282:Health Personnel; D006801:Humans; D016273:Occupational Exposure; D059039:Standard of Care; D014481:United States
keywords: Blood-borne pathogen; Health planning; Occupational exposures; Standardized care