Hospital Employee Health – September 1, 2016
September 1, 2016
View Issues
-
Overshadowed by Zika, MERS Still a Looming Threat to HCWs
Though Zika has eclipsed it as a national concern, another virus that has already caused many occupational infections and even deaths in healthcare workers is still emerging in hospital outbreaks a plane ride away: Middle East Respiratory Syndrome.
-
‘Super-spreaders’ Threaten Healthcare Workers
The quasi-medical term “super-spreader” was coined to describe a single person who infects an unusually large number of contacts, including healthcare workers and other patients.
-
MERS Outbreak Takes Emotional Toll on HCWs
A hospital outbreak of MERS caused emotional turmoil and stress in healthcare workers, particularly after some of their own colleagues became so seriously infected they had to be put on ventilator support, a recent study reports.
-
Zika Riddle: Did Virus Spread to Caregiver?
A dying patient in Utah with a staggering level of circulating Zika virus apparently infected a family caregiver in what may be the first case of non-sexual person-to-person transmission of the emerging virus.
-
Mayo Clinic Reaching Out to Physicians in Peril
As an aging population of physicians approaches a demographic cliff that may cause a shortage of medical doctors, there is renewed interest in prolonging and safeguarding the careers of those in the healing profession.
-
Colorado Drug Diversion Law Requires Fingerprints
After a series of highly publicized drug diversion incidents by healthcare workers in Colorado in recent years, the state passed a law that requires surgical technologists to register and submit to a background check.
-
Compressed Work Shifts Put Nurses at Risk
Nurses appear to be at higher risk of injury as they suffer a kind of cumulative fatigue and diminishment in balance and reactions working “compressed” shifts, researchers report.