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Smaller outpatient facilities struggle to achieve regulatory compliance with HIPAA

An outpatient surgery facility gives a research organization a patient’s protected health information (PHI) for recruitment, but it didn’t have the patient’s authorization or a signed waiver of authorization approved by the Institutional Review Board or privacy board.

Freestanding EDs and urgent care centers as new sources of surgical referrals

One question I’m frequently asked is how to increase referrals to surgeons in the hospital or freestanding ambulatory surgery center (ASC) arenas.

Serratia outbreak linked to drug diversion

A former nurse at the University of Wisconsin (UW) Hospital and Clinics in Madison, who allegedly diverted pain medication for personal use, might be linked to a cluster of infections among patients in the units where she worked, UW officials say.

Nationwide focus is growing on issues surrounding injection safety

There is an increasing focus on safe use of needles and vials, which was the subject of a Sentinel Event Alert from The Joint Commission last year, says Vicki Allen, MSN, RN, CIC, infection prevention coordinator at Beaufort (SC) Memorial Hospital.¹

Trail of tears: Fired drug-diverting workers free to find another healthcare facility

A nurse stealing morphine by replacing it with saline in a medication vial might not have realized she was colonized with Serratia marcescens, a gram negative bacteria that would soon find its way into the bloodstreams of a cluster of patients administered the contaminated solution. The insult of denied pain treatment was followed by the injury of infection, which proved fatal in one patient. That scenario is under investigation at a Wisconsin hospital, the latest in a series of outbreaks linked to drug-diverting healthcare workers. (See second story that follows.)

Adverse Events Can Happen When Staff Try to Maintain Equipment

The incident started with good intentions.

Common barriers to workplace violence prevention include lack of incident follow-up

Nurses and allied health professionals are at increased risk of workplace violence, and yet there remain challenging barriers to preventing violence in the hospital setting, researchers report.¹

‘Active shooter’ scenario and violence prevention should be on every hospital’s agenda

While nearly every hospital nationwide now has a plan in the event of an Ebola patient, few are prepared for a workplace threat that is becoming all too common: an active shooter or another kind of violent act.

Small business panel questions need for OSHA infectious disease rule, says expand BBP standard

After listening to employers ranging from funeral directors and dentists to administrators of small hospitals and surgery centers, a Small Business Advocacy Review Panel advised the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to put the brakes on its infectious disease rulemaking.

Ebola funds may bring new resources to protect HCWs, patients as $576 million distributed

Health care workers face infectious disease risks every day, but the Ebola outbreak put those hazards into a harsh, new perspective: You have protective gear, and if you don’t wear it properly, you could die.