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Chloe Samille B.

Baldebrin

BC 25-F

April 23, 2015

Ian Jay A. Macabenta

HBV IMMUNIZATION TO FRESHMEN MEDICAL TECHNOLOGY STUDENTS IN


SILLIMAN UNIVERSITY

The hospital is a place for receiving and giving care to sick individuals.
Workers from this facility are exposed to different kinds of safety hazards everyday at
work. Health care workers or professionals, most especially the Medical
technologists are more prone to being infected by diseases, thus, needing all the
protection they can get not just by wearing their personal protective equipment or
PPE, but also in the inside of their bodies such as having antibodies. Because of this,
protection of health care workers is critical to giving satisfactory service to the public.
If these workers, despite being professionals and experts on their work, need
protection from infections, students who are still training to be health care
professionals someday need more protection than these workers. In Silliman
University, freshmen students of Medical Technology are already being introduced to
blood collection, thus, handling and dealing with real human blood which may be
infected with viruses, and in this case, hepatitis B virus. For this reason, first year
medical technology students in Silliman University should undergo complete
Hepatitis B virus immunization to prevent them from being infected by the virus
during their blood collection activities despite the high cost of each dose because

hepatitis B virus is infectious, first year students are introduced to blood collection
and the immunization will still be useful in the future.

Hepatitis B Virus is a viral infection that attacks the liver and if not treated
immediately, can cause death. It is known as the major infectious blood borne
occupational hazard to healthcare professionals. This virus can be found in the blood
of an infected individual since it lives within the body, more specifically in the liver,
where it replicates itself. It can also be transmitted from an infected individual to other
individuals by blood or other body fluids, and clearly, during the process of blood
collection, the phlebotomist or medical technologist will have to draw blood from
another person who might be infected by the virus. Despite the fact that the virus
lives within the body, the virus can still live and infect other individuals even after its
taken out from the body of the infected person for at least 7 days. Within those days,
the virus can still infect others who are exposed to it without protection or proper
personal protective equipment (PPE) even when the blood is already dry.

Freshmen medical technology students in Silliman University have been


already introduced to blood collection so that they may have an idea of what their
future career will be like as early as possible in case if the students change their
minds and shift to another course. Blood collection is a very complex procedure in
which a little error can result in many possible complications on both the patient and
the phlebotomist. The most common accident during blood collection is having
needle stick injuries. This happens when needles accidentally puncture the skin of

the phlebotomist due to improper handling, recapping and disposal of needles.


Learning new things will lead to making a couple of mistakes and because these
students are still learning, they are prone to having these injuries. The situation is at
its worst when the needle that is punctured has already been used and is infected by
a blood borne virus.

When this happens, the student will be exposed to

contaminated blood, thus, causing the student to be a hepatitis B virus carrier. Since
the procedure is complicated to perform, students have the possibility of
interchanging the steps of the procedure like untying the tourniquet after withdrawing
the needle, which can cause blood spills resulting to extreme blood loss. In this
situation, the student has the possibility of touching the blood.

Because of the said possibilities, first year medical technology students will
need to complete the immunization. However, this is not only for their first year. The
immunization will still be useful in the future. If they pass and proceed to the second,
third and fourth year, the immunization will still be of great use to them especially
during their third year and internship (fourth year) because they will have to deal with
more blood and other body fluids like urine. When they graduate and become
registered medical technologists (RMTs), they will be exposed to blood and other
body fluids from more people they dont know. Medical Technologists are highly
recommended to undergo immunization to ensure their safety from occupational
hazards, most especially hepatitis B virus.

This means that the use of the

immunization will not end after they graduate. It will still be useful to them, not until
the end of their career, but until the end of their lives. Therefore, first year medical

technology students in Silliman University should undergo complete Hepatitis B Virus


immunization.

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