Hospital Employee Health – June 1, 2010
June 1, 2010
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Needlesticks, blood exposures falling everywhere but in the OR
Thanks to safer devices, health care workers are sustaining many fewer needlesticks than they did a decade ago. But hospitals have yet to face up to the challenge of one unsafe zone: The operating room. -
Percutaneous injuries from suture needles
A fact sheet on suture needles injuries from the International Healthcare Worker Safety Center at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, includes the following key points and references: -
HCWs got flu vaccine — but not for H1N1
Hospital employees stepped up for influenza vaccinations at an unprecedented rate this year, but there was just one catch: Many of them received the seasonal flu vaccine but not the H1N1 vaccine. -
ED suffered most from H1N1 spread
As the novel H1N1 influenza began to spread last year, emergency department workers were at greater risk of infection than workers in other departments, according to a study at New York Presbyterian Hospital in New York City. -
Case studies: Two flu vaccination strategies
How can you achieve the highest uptake of influenza vaccine? Here are case studies from two health care systems that illustrate different approaches to health care worker vaccination. -
TB: Stay vigilant as drug resistance spreads
Tuberculosis has continued to decline in the United States even as parts of the world struggle with the growing burden of multi-drug resistant strains. Infectious diseases do not respect borders, however, so TB experts worry that complacency is as much the enemy as the disease. -
Shiftwork may lead to GI upset, sick days
Rotating shifts have been associated with some serious health effects, including cancer, excessive fatigue, depression, and obesity. A recent study links another disorder to the disruption of changing schedules: Irritable bowel syndrome. -
Joint Commission Update for Infection Control: Coach approach: Improve hand hygiene with prompts, code words
The Joint Commission's longstanding patient safety goal on infection prevention underscores the critical importance of improving hand hygiene compliance by health care providers. Moreover, again in 2010, the Joint Commission urges infection preventionists and their colleagues to foster "a culture of hand hygiene" by monitoring compliance and providing feedback. -
Joint Commission Update for Infection Control: Applying 'reliability' theory to lower infection rates
When staff at the Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center (CCHMC) began working on reducing ventilator-associated pneumonia rates, they armed themselves with more than a bundle. The work was informed by the theory of high reliability how to make progress and how to sustain improvements. -
Joint Commission Update for Infection Control: Have materials at the ready for Joint survey
Demonstrating that you're prepared is important when Joint Commission surveyors knock on your door, says Susan Bukunt, RN, MPA, CPHQ, senior director of clinical quality and patient safety at El Camino Hospital with two campuses in Los Gatos and Mountain View, CA. "Being able to give them what they're asking for shows them that you're ready and you take this seriously," she says. -
Joint Commission Update for Infection Control: Joint Commission to issue pertussis best practices
In an effort to help health care organizations implement or enhance tetanus, diphtheria and acellular pertussis (Tdap) vaccination programs for patients and health care workers, The Joint Commission is preparing a monograph based on real-world clinical practice.