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A small section in the massive new Medicare law brings all hospitals into compliance with the bloodborne pathogens standard. State and local hospitals now will be subject to the same provisions including the involvement of front-line health care workers as other hospitals that fall under the purview of the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).
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Older nurses returning to work have helped ease the nursing shortage, but they also create a greater imperative for ergonomic modifications, says Peter Buerhaus, PhD, senior associate dean for research at the Vanderbilt University School of Nursing in Nashville, TN.
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The American Nurses Association (ANA) in Washington, DC, is making a major push for zero lift.
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The tougher enforcement touted by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) so far has failed to significantly affect the hospital sector. No hospitals have received citations related to ergonomic hazards, despite the fact that overexertion in lifting is the leading cause of injury in the industry.
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Control charts, quality tools that can help tighten the focus on process variations, increasingly are gaining acceptance among some health care quality professionals. In fact, a number of Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations requirements specifically mention the use of control charts.
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Every day, we are confronted by problems that need solving. The problem might present itself simply as a minor inconvenience, or the problem may be a significant variance from ideal clinical practices. Whatever challenges your organization faces, effective problem-solving skills are needed to deal with the issues.
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Before Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian in Orange County, CA, started its collaborative care initiatives for case management and social work, the two disciplines often were at odds with each other.
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When Teresa C. Fugate, RN, BBA, CPHQ, CCM, developed the case management program for a hospital in which she worked, she included a provision promising that what the case managers saved by preventing extra days and avoiding denials would equal their salaries plus benefits.
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Amid increasing sensational press exposés and consumer advocates demanding release of hospital infection rates, comes this cold truth from a leading public health official: Health care-associated infections are fraught with so many variables that epidemiologists dont really know how many occur and how many can be prevented.
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Infection control professionals have the expertise to handle a rapidly expanding job definition, but must have the resources and staff to accomplish the new demands on the profession, a leading ICP recently said in Chicago at a conference held by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations.
