Hospital Employee Health – September 1, 2007
September 1, 2007
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CDC isolation guideline sparks new debate on respiratory protection
Updated guidelines designed to prevent nosocomial transmission of diseases inject some new uncertainties in the efforts to protect health care workers. -
OSHA can enforce annual fit-testing rule
Annual fit-testing is once again the unqualified rule for tuberculosis. A Congressional caveat that prohibited the U.S. Occupational Safety and Administration from using federal funds to enforce the annual fit-testing rule for TB has been defeated in the House of Representatives. -
What's new in the isolation precautions?
The severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) epidemic pointed out the need for better source control among patients, visitors and health care workers with respiratory infections. -
Evaluate risk before choosing respirators
Choosing a respirator is partly a matter of numbers. Each one has a rating for its filtration and seal, which reveals how much of the contaminated ambient air would still reach the lungs. -
CDC: Use declination statements on flu vaccine
Hospitals are feeling even greater pressure to ask health care workers to sign declination statements if they don't receive the influenza vaccine. -
'Get to zero': Pittsburgh VA vows to stamp out MRSA
Multidrug-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is reaching alarming levels around the country, but at the VA Medical Center in Pittsburgh, MRSA rates have dropped by 60% in the past five years. The key: Health care workers are team players in a comprehensive approach to halting MRSA. -
Want to prove your value? Audit it!
How do you prove the value created by the employee health service? Perhaps you can show a reduction in injury rates or workers comp claims. -
NIOSH updates list of hazardous drugs
As many as 62 new drugs may be added to the list of potential workplace hazards by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. -
Joint Commission Update: SHEA protests Joint Commission's proposed infection control standards
The Joint Commission has proposed standards revisions that could weaken infection control programs "significantly at a time when health care associated infections (HAIs) are receiving increasing attention by legislators, payers, and consumers," ... -
Joint Commission Update: Flu shot standard stirs initial response
The Joint Commission's new standard requiring hospitals to offer influenza vaccine to health care workers is showing some signs of initial impact, but the first real test will be the 2007-2008 flu season. -
Joint Commission Update: WHO hand hygiene text added to safety goals
The Joint Commission has added a new patient safety goal for 2008 that allows hospitals to comply with hand hygiene guidelines by the World Health Organization.