Hospital Employee Health 2003-02-01

Employee health takes charge of smallpox vaccination plans

As hospitals prepare to vaccinate hundreds of health care workers, they face a host of opposing pressures.

Smallpox vaccine leaves hospitals open to claims

Despite legal protections included in the Homeland Security Act, hospitals still face workers compensation liability and possibly other legal exposure from the smallpox vaccination of health care workers, according to lawyers who specialize in the health care field.

OSHA pushes TB standard into long-term action plan

A tuberculosis standard requiring annual respirator fit-testing and skin testing is all but dead as the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) removed it from the proposed-rule stage.

Simple, accurate test now available for latent TB

A new blood test for tuberculosis infection could revolutionize the method for screening health care workers and lead to a reduction in false positive results.

Lift teamwork: MSD injuries drop from 34 to 0

El Camino Hospital in Mountainview, CA, enlisted the health care workers to create a better ergonomic climate.

Needle safety tops citation for hospitals

Inspections by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) rose this year, exceeding the agencys goals for enforcement action. Of the 37,493 inspections in FY 2002, 159 occurred at hospitals, resulting in 277 citations. The bloodborne pathogen standard continued to be a major source of enforcement action at hospitals, accounting for the greatest number of citations.

Check the box for hearing loss cases on OSHA 300

Employers will need to record hearing-loss cases in a separate column on the OSHA log beginning Jan. 1, 2004, the U.S. Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) announced.

JCAHO Update for Infection Control: ‘Flip-flop’ flap: Joint Commission urges ICPs to report fatal, impairing nosocomial infections as ‘sentinel events’

In an unusual direct appeal to health care facilities, the chairman of the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations is asking for reports of nosocomial infections that result in patient deaths or permanent loss of function.

JCAHO Update for Infection Control : ICPs won’t push JCAHO for new staffing formula

Though recent research supports the need for more infection control staffing than traditionally allotted, ICPs are not expected to press for a specific staffing requirement from the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations.

JCAHO Update for Infection Control: JCAHO looking at timing of surgical drug prophylaxis

The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations is partnering with the University of Tennessee, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America to conduct a four-year study under an Agency for Healthcare Quality and Research-funded grant project entitled Trial to Reduce Antibiotic Prophylaxis Errors (TRAPE).

JCAHO Update for Infection Control: Surveyors checking for new patient safety goals

Be advised that accreditation surveyors now are looking for signs of implementation of the six patient safety goals established for 2003.

Hospital Employee Health – February 1, 2003

February 1, 2003