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Verbal abuse, threats, assaults from combative or disoriented patients or emotionally distraught family members — those occurrences are so common in hospitals that many nurses seem to feel it's just "part of the job."
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Moving patients safely isn't just a way to protect workers. It also improves the mobility of patients while preventing falls — core components of patient safety and satisfaction.
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The moment a nurse tries to help a heavy-set, medically fragile patient stand and walk is fraught with risk. With one miscalculation, the patient can fall, and the nurse or the patient — or both — may be seriously injured. If the patient falls, the hospital could have a lawsuit on its hands for failing to use mechanical assist devices that are readily available.
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The life of a home health nurse is filled with variety, independence, flexibility — and all too often, back pain. While hospitals are implementing safe lifting programs in their facilities, the home health nurse or aide travels from home to home and faces hazards the floor nurse couldn't imagine.
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No new confirmed cases of occupationally acquired HIV have been reported since 2000. The hepatitis B vaccine has led to a dramatic reduction in new occupationally related cases. But the risk of transmission of disease from bloodborne pathogens to health care workers remains very real — a risk that isn't limited to hepatitis and HIV.
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The Southern Nevada Health District issued the following questions and answers after launching the largest patient look-back effort in history by contacting 40,000 patients potentially exposed to bloodborne pathogens in a Las Vegas endoscopy clinic:
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An outbreak of hepatitis C virus (HCV) that recently sparked a massive testing effort affecting 40,000 patients in Las Vegas comes as the largest, latest "look-back" in a series of ambulatory care exposures that shows no signs of stopping.
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Appropriately enough in Las Vegas, the largest patient look-back investigation in history will come down to something akin to a high-stakes bingo game.
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In response to a hepatitis C virus outbreak in an endoscopy center in Las Vegas, the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists (AANA) in Park Ridge, IL, is reiterating safe needle practices to all of its members.
