Attendees:  Carla See, Ralph Utzman, April Vestal, Patti Crawford, Imogene Foster, Nancy Dunn, Marilyn Fox, Norman Ferrari, Carla Campbell, Mike Lewis, Jacquelynn Copenhaver, Kathleen Bors, JoAnn Raines

Dr. Ferrari called the meeting to order at 11:45 AM.

Dr. Ferrari thanked Dr. Lewis for attending the meeting.

Needlestick Policy

The main issues are as follows:  Who pays the initial cost of treatment and who covers the cost of the medicine?  Dr. Lewis was contacted as to how to stock and dispense medications.

Nancy Dunn talked about a student at her site that got stuck, the procedure she followed and the difficulties she encountered.

WVU has a pretty good policy in place (for WVU), but what about the regional campuses?  There are a lot more hoops to jump through at regional campuses and time is of great importance for treatment.  WVU students carry an immunization wallet card that has six steps to follow and a number to call at WVU in case of a needlestick.   WVU has a Dean on call system and the regional campuses do not.  Not all schools have such a card.  The regional campuses need to be more integrated with WVU.

A suggestion was made to implement a universal policy and put it on the web, with a hard copy to be kept at all regional campuses and consortium sites.

Hospitals are unsure of what to do with an RHEP student and this can delay treatment. Dr. Ferrari’s concerns are the availability of medication and the immediate treatment.  Other major concerns are as follows:
1. Where do we keep the medication?
2. Do we need a place in every county to store or keep medication on hand?
3. What is the availability of medication in the middle of the night?
4. Who is going to pay for this expensive medication?
5. If a student cannot get back to their respective campus, who will pay for treatment?

WVU, Marshall University and WVSOM medical students are required to have health insurance.  Physical Therapy and School of Pharmacy also require students have health insurance.  Some sites also require health insurance.  But some insurance policies do not cover needlestick injuries and medication.  Dr. Lewis will get legal opinion if we can require students to have insurance and what the level of insurance coverage should be.

A suggestion was made that all three schools come up with a common health policy.  This policy also needs to be broader to include bodily fluids.

Nancy Dunn requested that contact be made with CAMC to have a contract to care for the WVU Tech. Students.

The question of how to stock medication for needlestick injuries came up again.  There should be at least one dose in every county.  Carla See and Clarke Ridgway talked about this and thought that hospitals with a full time pharmacy staff would be the best place to keep such medication, as they would be involved regarding verification, dosage and expiration dates of medication on hand.  Carla and Clarke will map out potential sites and approach the pharmacists.

Dr. Ferrari suggested that Carla map out where we should store drugs – less than one hour driving time from sites, with at least one dose in each county.

He also suggested that JoAnn Raines head up a subcommittee to combine policies unifying steps to take and make cards.

A conference call may be needed on this issue in mid December to late January.  April Vestal will arrange a conference call of the whole school committee and Dr. Lewis to iron out details to present the RHEP Policy to the advisory panel in March.  This will be the RHEP Policy.  Schools can do more regarding their own policy, but not less than is stated in the RHEP Policy.  Part of the recommendation for the RHEP Policy is that all students are required to have health insurance.  RHEP will provide the initial dose of drugs and the follow-up is the responsibility of students.  If students are sent out of state for rotation, the same policy applies.

Adding Allied Health Representatives to Advisory Panel

Dr. Ferrari stated that the School Committee needs to make a recommendation to the WVRHEP Advisory Panel on adding representatives from the four non-primary disciplines in the legislation. How do we want to approach the recommendation to have a representative from the Allied Health Professions on the Advisory Panel?

Ralph Utzman presented this to Hilda over the summer and his intent was that all Allied Health Programs within the state that we currently have be represented on the Advisory Panel.   The disciplines currently participating in RHEP are:  Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy to a limited degree, Med Tech, Social Work, PA students and Dental Hygiene.

Dr. Ferrari’s recommendation for discussion only was that an individual represent all disciplines in the Allied Health Field as a group collectively.  The Allied Health Field Professionals must be currently participating in the RHEP program and are not covered within medicine, dentistry, nursing and pharmacy.  The Allied Health Field consists of the following:  Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy, Med. Techs, Social Workers, Physicians Assistant, Dental Hygienists, MPH and CHPR(Community Health Promotion). This panel representative could then meet with the chair or a representative of these disciplines as a sub-group/committee eight more people on This person should be somebody actually practicing one of the disciplines whether school based or community participant.  This would be a subcommittee of the School Committee and will be called the Allied Health Committee

A motion was made to adopt a recommendation to the Advisory Panel that the four non-primary disciplines, which are health center disciplines participating in RHEP, meet as a subcommittee of this group and elect a representative who is a practitioner of one of those disciplines to represent those designated Allied Health Professions on the Advisory Panel. (See/Bors –unanimous)

Agenda items tabled until the next meeting:
Site Coordinators’ Evaluation of Students

Meeting Adjourned.