There is a patient with a communicable disease on our unit... now what?
In
the event of a confirmed communicable disease exposure on your unit or
facility, the Provincial Workplace Health Contact Centre will be notified by
either the Infection Control department at your site or by Public Health and
the exposure criteria and risk to employees will be determined.
If
follow up is needed for employees, the managers of the affected departments will
be notified by the Provincial Workplace Health Contact Centre with follow up
instructions.
As
per instructions given to the managers, employees who have been notified to
contact the Provincial Workplace Health Contact Centre are to do so
at 1-866-922-9464 (select Option 1)
to speak with an Communicable Disease Exposure Managment Nurse for a full assessment of the
exposure.
The
Communicable Disease Exposure Management Nurse will confirm when you had contact with the source
person, will review the exposure criteria with you, and will discuss follow up
recommendations if you meet the exposure criteria.
PRIVACY NOTICE:
Privacy information to support data collection for communicable disease exposure management
Collection, Use and Disclosure of Personal Information by the Health Authorities and Providence Health Care to support exposure management in response to a case of a communicable disease event, pandemic, or novel pathogen.
On March 1, 2019, Deputy Minister Steve Brown issued a mandate letter to the Health Authorities of BC and Providence Health Care following a significant surge in measles exposure event activity in the province, compromising patient care and worker health. This letter outlines the Ministry's expectation that health authorities follow BC immunization guidelines for health care workers and that all regions implement processes to collect and maintain records of immunization/immunity for all health care workers including physicians. The letter further indicates these records should be maintained in the Workplace Health Indicator Tracking and Evaluation (WHITE) database to facilitate rapid assessment following communicable disease exposures.
The purpose of this notice is to provide you with information about the plans for the collection and use of vaccination/immunity status information about health care workers and medical staff working for the Health Authorities of BC and Providence Health Care to ensure compliance with these vaccination and immunity record requirements and to ensure that we provide employees, staff and patients with a safe and healthy environment.
Vaccination/immunity Status Information of health care workers is collected, used and disclosed by the Health Authorities of BC and Providence Health Care for the purposes of complying with ministry of health expectations and requirements, to ensure that employees are provided with a safe and healthy workplace, to manage the employment relationship, and to enable public health surveillance and health sector planning. Vaccination/immunity status information may also be aggregated and used to assess broader public health and health sector planning needs.
Vaccination/immunity status information will continue to be maintained in a secure information system known as the Workplace Health Indicator Tracking and Evaluation (WHITE) system, which has been in existence for many years and is specifically designed to maintain workplace health and safety information. Only authorized users of the WHITE system will have access to your vaccination/immunity status information, and such access will take place only on a "need to know" basis and for authorized purposes. Users of WHITE do not have access to your personal health number or non-immunity related health records. The system will only provide information verifying whether or not you have been vaccinated or have immunity.
Vaccine and Immunity status information is collected in reliance on the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA), sections 26(a),(c), (e), 27(1)(a)(iii), 27(1)(f) and 27(1)(b), the Public Health Act, and the E-Health (Personal Health Information Access and Protection of Privacy) Act.
If you have any questions regarding this privacy notification, including the collection, use or disclosure of personal information, please contact:
Phone: 1-855-229-9800
Email: privacy@phsa.ca
