Assessment Process

If your situation requires a SERTIH risk assessment, your informed consent will be obtained. 

A risk assessment committee will then be formed to perform an analysis of your exposure-prone procedure practice and your viral contagion risk. Your file will be systematically anonymized, and the ad hoc committee will differ for each assessment. 

This service is confidential, and the recommendations will be discussed with you first. SERTIH will then forward the recommendations to your professional order or educational institution which will oversee their application and follow-up. The recommendations will also be forwarded to your attending physician. 

If you are currently a student, the SERTIH team can prepare the assessment report without submitting your file to an assessment committee. This may apply in cases where precedents have been established and the SERTIH team considers that previously issued recommendations may apply to a new assessment request. 

However, a committee could be formed if the team deems it appropriate. 

For most SERTIH recommendations, changes can be made to your working practices so that you can start or continue your studies or career in accordance with the guidelines of your professional order or educational institution.

Benefits of a SERTIH assessment

  • SERTIH does not aim for zero risk, but instead a transmission risk that is low enough to ensure safe training and practice.
  • The SERTIH assessment reassures you, your employer, and any other authorities that the acts you are authorized to perform are safe for patients.

Implications

  • In compliance with legal obligations* for the protection of personal information, your professional order, educational institution, or employer will be notified that you have been diagnosed with a blood-borne infection, without specifying which one. 
    * Primarily, the Act respecting access to documents held by public institutions and the protection of personal information, the Act respecting the protection of personal information in the private sector, the Professional Code, and the Act respecting health services and social services.
  • The SERTIH recommendations may partially or completely restrict your practice or training activities, temporarily.

Risk assessment committee

If your practice involves or will involve exposure-prone procedures, once your signed consent forms have been received and your medical information has been transferred, your file will be presented to a risk assessment committee.

This committee is made up of:

  • A physician specializing in medical microbiology and infectious diseases;
  • A physician specializing in public health and preventive medicine or a general practitioner with skills and experience in public health and infectious diseases;
  • If necessary, a professional practicing in your field, or a program manager if you are a student.

The medical specialist and the professional at SERTIH will also attend the risk assessment committee meeting, and they will be the only individuals to know your identity. Other committee members will have access to non-nominal (anonymous) data only.

The risk assessment committee will:

  • Assess the risk of blood-borne infection transmission based on your health status and the nature of the exposure-prone procedures that you perform or may perform as part of your clinical practice or training.
  • Issue, if necessary, recommendations for your future practice or training.
  • Issue, if necessary, recommendations for your medical follow-up to enable you to perform exposure-prone procedures.
     
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