California Code of Regulations › Title 16 - Professional and Vocational Regulations › Division 15 - State Board of Optometry › Article 4 - Sanitary and/or Hygienic Facilities-Standards Governing Services › Section 1520 - Infection Control Guidelines

Current through Register 2024 Notice Reg. No. 28, July 12, 2024
(a)
				Optometrists and staff, which also includes assistants in the office of an
				optometrist, must comply with all the applicable Standard
				Precautions.
(b) Standard
				Precautions combine the major features of Universal Precautions and Body
				Substance Isolation and are based on the principle that all blood, body fluids,
				secretions, excretions (except sweat), non-intact skin, and mucus membranes may
				contain transmissible infectious agents. All contact with these substances is
				treated as if known to be infectious for Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV),
				Hepatitis, and other transmissible infectious agents. Standard Precautions are
				also intended to protect patients by ensuring that optometric staff do not
				carry infectious agents to patients on their hands or via equipment used when
				providing optometric services. Standard Precautions must be used in the care of
				all patients, regardless of suspected or confirmed infection status, and in all
				settings wherein optometric services are provided. Standard Precautions
				include:
(1) Proper Hand Hygiene
(A) Each office shall have a hand washing
				facility that is entirely within the confines of the premises or space occupied
				by such office and not elsewhere, and which shall be for the exclusive use of
				the optometrist or optometrists practicing in such office and his/her or their
				assistants and patients and shall not be used by other persons.
(B) For the purpose of this section, a hand
				washing facility is a facility affording, at minimum, the following:
1. A wash basin or sink with hot and cold
				running water which complies with Title 24, California Administrative Code,
				Part 5 (commencing with Section P100).
2. Liquid hand washing detergent in a
				dispensing device.
3. Single
				service sanitary towels in a dispensing device or a sanitary hot-air blower
				hand drying apparatus.
(C) Hand washing facilities shall be
				maintained in a condition of cleanliness and good repair.
(D) The optometrists and staff shall maintain
				at all times a high standard of cleanliness and personal hygiene in order to
				ensure proper patient care.
(E) The
				optometrists and staff shall avoid unnecessary touching of face, nose, and
				surfaces in close proximity to the patient to prevent both contamination of
				clean hands from environmental surfaces and transmission of pathogens from
				contaminated hands to surfaces, when providing optometric services.
(F) When hands are visibly soiled, hands
				shall be washed with soap and water for a 20-second scrub and 10-second rinse
				or an antimicrobial hand wash. If hands are not visibly soiled, an acceptable
				alternative of hand decontamination is with an alcohol-based hand rub (except
				in cases of spores, as described below).
(G) Hands shall be washed or decontaminated
				as follows:
1. Before having direct contact
				with any patient, immediately after a procedure (such as eye examinations or
				other procedures involving contact with tears), and in between
				patients.
2. After removing gloves,
				ensure that hands will not carry potential infectious material that might have
				penetrated through unrecognized cuts or lacerations in the gloves, or that
				could contaminate the hands during glove removal.
3. Artificial fingernails or extenders shall
				not be worn if duties include direct contact with patients at high risk for
				infection and associated adverse outcomes.
(H) After each patient session ends, hands
				must be washed with soap and water or an antimicrobial hand wash if contact
				with spores (including but not limited to C.
difficile
or
Bacillus anthracis
) is likely to have occurred. The physical
				action of washing and rinsing hands in such circumstances is required because
				alcohols, chlorhexidine, iodophors, and other antiseptic agents have poor
				activity against spores.
(I) If an
				optometrist or staff member has exudative lesions or weeping dermatitis of the
				hand, direct patient care and the handling of patient care equipment by the
				person with the condition must stop until the condition
				resolves.