Hospital Employee Health – September 1, 2009
September 1, 2009
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Employee health professionals brace for waves of flu, long vaccine campaigns
Be prepared for a double strike of influenza this year - and a prolonged season of vaccination to combat it. -
Leadership support boosts flu vaccination
Fewer than half of health care workers receive their annual influenza immunization, according to federal surveys, despite a growing call for flu shots to protect patients as well as employees. Each year, hospitals gear up for annual flu campaigns but find they can spur little improvement in vaccination rates. -
Put the right spin on flu vaccination
Every year, the basic message is the same: Get your flu shot. But hospitals around the country have found innovative ways to market that message - and get the attention of health care workers. Here are a few campaigns highlighted by the Joint Commission in its recent monograph on influenza vaccination. -
HICPAC favors switch to surgical masks for H1N1
An advisory panel is recommending less stringent infection control precautions for novel H1N1, but the move is just one step in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention examination of the issue. -
Reuse of masks sparks labor complaint
One evening, ICU nurse Janet Braillard, RN, returned to work at Sutter Solano Medical Center in Vallejo, CA, after being out with a respiratory illness and discovered a new memo. There was a shortage of N95 respirators, the hospital said, and nurses would need to place their respirators in a plastic bag, keep them in their lockers, and reuse them until they were visibly damaged or soiled. -
How many masks are needed in a pandemic?
Stockpiling of personal protective equipment is an important component of pandemic planning. But how do you know just how many respirators to stockpile? -
Be aware of HCW psych needs in pandemic
The nuts and bolts of pandemic planning involve quantifiable items: Ventilators, respirators, antiviral medications, vaccine doses. But in the midst of drills and stockpiles and vaccine campaigns, don't forget about the psychosocial needs of your frontline employees. -
Joint Commission Update for Infection Control: Joint Commission urges health care CEOs to lead the fight against drug-resistant infections
The Joint Commission is calling on health care administrators to take the lead in preventing infections with multidrug-resistant organisms (MDROs), reminding them that current patient safety goals require CEOs to take responsibility for implementing programs to prevent these deadly and costly outcomes. -
Joint Commission Update for Infection Control: Joint Commission takes on decolonization issue
The Joint Commission takes on the controversial issue of decolonization of patients carrying multidrug-resistant organisms (MDROs) in a new report aimed at health care CEOs. With more hospitals adopting active surveillance cultures to detect MDROs, the question of attempting to decolonize patients has become controversial due to issues of cost and long-term efficacy. -
Joint Commission Update for Infection Control: Joint chief: Quality must be part of health reform
National health care reform must include a quality component - including preventing health care-associated infections - if it is to become an effective and affordable reality, Mark R. Chassin, MD, president of The Joint Commission, notes in a commentary posted on the Joint Commission web site.