Staff Directory
Intranet
Policies
Faculty Webs
Jobs at HTC

HTC Policies and Procedures

Human Resources
Communicable Diseases

Policy 04.03

POLICY STATEMENT

Hennepin Technical College will comply with guidelines regarding communicable diseases as established by the Minnesota Department of Health.

IMPLEMENTATION PROCEDURE

Hennepin Technical College adopts the guidelines regarding communicable diseases as established by the Minnesota Department of Health. Copies of these guidelines may be obtained through the Office of Human Resources. In addition to dealing with the historically more common contagious diseases such as measles, rubella, meningitis, etc., there is now more potential for faculty and students to encounter chronic and/more life threatening infectious conditions including hepatitis B, cytomegalovirus (CMV), herpes simplex (HSV), TB, and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS).

Hennepin Technical College respects the rights of individuals with a communicable disease to education, to privacy, and to be free from discrimination. Hennepin Technical College also acknowledges the rights of others in the system to be educated in a safe environment and the need to educate administrators, faculty, and students about preventing and reducing the risk of transmission of communicable diseases.

The president will appoint a college First Response Team whose members will be trained and knowledgeable and whose background and/or position is relevant to the responsibility involved. The response team will act in a support/advisory capacity to the president, serve as liaison to the community regarding matters related to communicable disease, and may also coordinate the college’s faculty inservice for communicable disease.

Admission/Attendance of Students with Contagious Disease
The purpose of this procedure is to minimize interruptions to learning resulting from communicable diseases. Students with communicable diseases will not be excluded from attending school in their regular classrooms so long as their attendance does not create a substantial risk of the transmission of illness to other students or employees of the college.

The college recognizes that some students, because of age or handicapping conditions, and some employees, because of special conditions, may pose greater theoretical or possible risks for the transmission of communicable diseases than other persons infected with the same illness. Examples include students who display biting behavior and students and employees who are unable to control their body fluids or have uncovered oozing wounds. These rare conditions need to be taken into account and considered in assessing the risk of transmission of the disease and the resulting effect upon the educational program of the student or employment of the employee.

Should it come to the attention of the college that a student has a chronic contagious or communicable condition that may pose a risk to others, a health planning team shall be established with consent from the parent or adult student. The health planning team shall provide support to the student, assist in establishing appropriate career goals, and monitor the impact of the condition on the student's educational program. This health planning team would include the student or parent of a minor student, classroom instructor, administration representative, and a knowledgeable health professional. In the Division of Special Education, the educational planning team with the addition of a health professional, would assume these responsibilities. The health team will develop a written individual health plan (IHP) for the student to document issues and decisions regarding the impact of the contagious disease on the student's educational program.

Any student with AIDS or who is infected with the AIDS virus shall have a physician as an active member of this planning team. Attendance at the planning conference would be preferable, but other avenues for this input can be developed on an individual basis. Decisions regarding the type of educational setting for the infected student are to be based on current medical, public health, or scientific information about transmission, his/her behavior, neurological development, physical condition, and the type of interaction necessary to carry out an educational program. Under most circumstances, students with the AIDS virus shall be allowed to attend school in their regularly assigned classroom setting. Students with the AIDS virus may experience immunodeficiency putting them at risk for the development of severe complications from other infectious agents encountered in the classroom setting. Such risk and its effect on attendance can be best assessed by the student's physician.

Some students with the AIDS virus may pose a greater risk to others; however, the affected student shall not be excluded from the receipt of an appropriate education even though circumstances require the temporary or long term placement outside the student's regular setting. The determination of an alteration of the student's educational placement must be done on an individual basis using the Educational Planning Conference (EPC) model, thus following established procedures and protections. The planning team should also include a member of the Commissioner of Health's AIDS Advisory Committee in those cases where it appears long-term placement outside the student's regular setting may be advisable. The decision regarding long-term placement outside the student's regular setting should be reviewed annually or more often as are all decisions regarding educational placement.

Faculty and Faculty Assignment
Employees with communicable diseases will not be excluded from attending to their customary employment so long as they are able to perform tasks assigned to them and so long as their employment does not create a substantial risk of the transmission of illness to students or other employees of the college.

Faculty who are medically at high risk in regard to certain contagious diseases (such as CMV) shall be assigned to work in environments which minimize such risk. It is the responsibility of the faculty person to inform the college administration in writing of this need. Medical verification may be requested.

First Response and Data Privacy
Hennepin Technical College respects all individuals' right to data privacy and will safeguard this right.

Health data regarding students and employees is private data (Minnesota Statutes §13.32 Subd. 2, and §13.43, Subd. 2) and is not to be disseminated to the public, faculty, or other employees without the strict observance of data privacy rights. Knowledge that a student or employee has a communicable disease will be limited to those persons determined by the president to have a direct need to know and upon consent for release of such information by the parent of a minor student or by the student if an adult.

The sharing of this information with non-eligible individuals is considered a serious breach of professional ethics as well as a violation of law. Any willful disclosure of information may constitute just cause for suspension or dismissal from employment.

In all cases in which the president (or the president's designee) becomes aware that a student or employee of the college has contracted a chronic or life threatening communicable disease, the president will take the following steps:

Inform public health authorities of the situation in accordance with the state rule on communicable diseases (Minn. Rules Part 4605.7040).
Contact the student, parent(s) or guardian of a minor student, or in the case of an employee, the employee to discuss the college procedures and support, and request consent for release of information to the college First Response Team (those individuals so designated by the president).
In rare situations, for AIDS virus infection where the student or employee has a high risk of transmission, contact the Minnesota Commissioner of Health and request the commissioner to convene the AIDS Advisory Committee to review the case and to provide recommendations regarding educational placement for a student or continued attendance at work for an employee.
Upon receiving written consent from the student, parent(s) or guardian of a minor student or, in the case of an employee, the employee confer with the treating physician in order to determine significant medical facts concerning the diagnosis of the disease or factors affecting the possible transmission of the disease. (Confer with public health officials for the latest information about the disease in general.)
If consent is not provided or if obtaining consent would result in a delay which would endanger public health, the president may take appropriate action as advised by public health authorities.

Education and Inservice
To insure that all faculty are knowledgeable regarding college policy and procedures, as well as having a basic understanding of communicable health conditions, each employee is required to attend a college sponsored inservice training program related to these topics. This inservice is provided to all new faculty and any faculty not previously inserviced. This workshop addresses issues related to the management of students with communicable or contagious diseases, infected personnel, and related legal considerations. Its purpose is the dissemination of accurate, current, and appropriate information. Periodic updates will be provided through additional inservice or memoranda.

Faculty and other employees who may be expected to have contact with a student or employee under circumstances giving rise to a risk of transmission of a serious illness will be informed about the potential for exposure. They will be provided instruction regarding the possible modes of transmission of the disease and prevention/protection measures. They will also be provided at no cost to them any special supplies, such as disposable gloves, which medical and/or public health advisors deem to be appropriate.

An educational program is developed and delivered for students who may benefit from or need to be informed about chronic infectious diseases, modes of transmission, and precautions. Curriculum and instructional units shall be designed and delivered to cover chronic infectious diseases, their transmission, and appropriate hygienic measures to prevent the spread of chronic infectious diseases. Program administrators will insure that appropriate instruction is offered within their area of responsibility.

Students who are known carriers of a chronic infectious disease should be individually tutored regarding additional control measures for minimizing transmission of the specific disease. For students involved in technical planning, attention will be given to assisting the student in determining his/her level of health risk in relation to certain diseases and the implications of such risk to career choice.

Reporting

1. Incident Reporting
If a faculty person becomes aware of an incidence of chronic or life threatening communicable disease within the college faculty or student population, the president is to be notified immediately that there is such a situation. Data privacy states that this is private information. Only with written consent of the parent of a minor student, the adult student, or the faculty person infected with such a disease can any information be disclosed from which the individual subject of the information can be identified.

2. Accident Report
In the event a student or employee has significant exposure* to fluids, secretion or excretion, the student or employee is to report the incident immediately to the instructor or dean. The instructor or dean is to complete Hennepin Technical College’s "Supervisor's Report of Accident" for an employee or "Accident Report" for students.

*Significant exposure occurs when infectious body fluids or tissues come in contact with a person's blood or mucous membranes. This includes needle sticks, puncture wounds, or skin breaks.

Back to Plans and Policies page

Contact HTC at 952-995-1300 or info@hennepintech.edu