Hospital Employee Health – August 1, 2008
August 1, 2008
View Issues
-
A touch of gray: Hiring, retaining older workers is cost-effective
Faced with an aging work force of nurses, hospitals are beginning to remake the work environment to keep nurses at the bedside. When the AARP released its list of the nation's 50 "Best Employers of People over 50" earlier this year, half of them were hospitals or other health care employers. -
Arthritis burden grows with aging work force
Almost one-third of workers with arthritis and 7% of all workers face significant work-related limitations, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. -
Unsafe injections point to poor 'safety climate'
At the Endoscopy Clinic of Southern Nevada in Las Vegas, it was not uncommon for a nurse anesthetist to remove the needle from a syringe and reuse the syringe even on another patient, public health investigators report. -
What happened? Report reveals differing practices
Two Epidemiologic Intelligence Service officers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention visited the Endoscopy Clinic of Southern Nevada in Las Vegas to investigate cases of hepatitis C and noted lapses in injection safety. Practices differed among the nurse anesthetists. This is an excerpt of their report: -
Can you eat a healthy diet in a hospital?
When health care workers take a break from caring for patients with heart disease, diabetes, or other diseases influenced by diet, what food choices do they have? A vending machine with potato chips and chocolate bars? A cafeteria with fried chicken and French fries? -
Cleveland Clinic: New hires must be nonsmokers
At the Cleveland Clinic, smoke-free means more than clearing the air in the hospital. The hospital doesn't want employees smoking anywhere even in their own homes. Smokers need not bother applying for a job, unless they intend to quit. -
Healthier HCWs mean lower health costs
Employers have discovered a way to lower their health plan costs: Have healthier employees. Increasingly, employers are creating strong incentives for healthy behavior or penalizing employees with risky behavior, such as smoking. But employees aren't thrilled about the new approach, according to a survey by Hewitt Associates, a human resources consulting firm based in Lincolnshire, IL.