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(2008)Journal ArticleObjective: In 2002, New South Wales (NSW) Health introduced an updated policy for occupational screening and vaccination against infectious diseases. This study describes healthcare worker (HCW) immunity to hepatitis B, measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) and varicella based on serological screening, following introduction of this policy. Methods: HCW screening serology performed at two healthcare facilities in south western Sydney (Bankstown and Fairfield) was extracted for the period September 2003 to September 2005. Immunity to hepatitis B, MMR and varicella was quantitated and cross-tabulated against age, sex and staff risk category. Results: A total of 1,320 HCWs were screened. Almost two thirds were immune to hepatitis B while immunity to MMR and varicella ranged from 88% to 94%. Age stratification showed lower levels of measles immunity in those born after 1965. Conclusions: Despite availability of vaccination for over two decades, a significant proportion of HCWs at these two facilities were non-immune to hepatitis B. This is of concern for those non-immune staff involved in direct clinical care, who are at risk of blood and body fluid exposures. The small group of HCWs non-immune to MMR and varicella pose a risk to themselves and others in the event of an outbreak. Implications: There is a need for improved implementation of the occupational screening and vaccination policy, including better education of HCWs about the risks of non-immunity to vaccine preventable diseases. The revised 2007 NSW Health policy may assist this process and will need evaluation to determine whether HCW immunity improves in the coming years.
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(2005)Journal Article
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(2006)Journal ArticleWhat is the relationship between social action initiatives and theory? In this paper we suggest that. like social action. theory is a means of intervening in social problems and is integrally linked with future possibilities. Devising the means of effective intervention requires the ability to understand and harness people`s ways of actively striving to deal with the social problems which emerge in their everyday lives. Such efforts involve communicating across difference. For example, regarding the problems of HIV prevention and positive living. gay men in Sydney are positioned differently from each other in relation to the virus. sexual practice, understanding and use of biomedical developments in the development of safe-sex strategies. How do everyday struggles to communicate across difference feed into effective social action. and what is the role of theory in supporting and driving these efforts? In this paper we consider the limitations of notions of intersubjectivity which overemphasize the role of `mutual recognition` in the development of relationships between actors. Talk of `mutual recognition` overlooks the fact that communication is essentially ambiguous. The result is a failure to theorize the emergence of productive connections between people which work through openness to this ambiguity. The absence of recognition can give rise to confusion. but it also an important element in the development of new ways of connecting with others. In turn, the mechanisms of socio-political change can be affected through the development of new forms of connection between actors. That is, modes of intersubjectivity which are based on misrecognition and difference can function as transfiguring relations, opening new possibilities for actively tackling social problems. We argue that effective social action harnesses transfiguring relations. This approach to social action demands that we develop our understanding of social relations, and take account of the productive rol
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