Hospital Employee Health – April 1, 2007

April 1, 2007

• SARS lesson: Err on side of infection control precautions to protect HCWs

  Hospitals must act swiftly to protect health care workers from infectious diseases, even when the scientific evidence is unclear about transmission.

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• Lessons from 'the pertussis epidemic that wasn't'

  When a day care worker reported to employee health at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, NH, with a severe, spasmatic cough that had lasted more than two weeks, an employee health nurse immediately thought of pertussis.

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• Coping with the cost of pertussis vaccine

  Hospitals are wrestling with the cost of complying with recent guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta on pertussis vaccination of health care workers.

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• Smoke-free zone: Seven hospitals band together

  The air is clear in public buildings, restaurants, and even many bars across America. So why should anyone light up even within a few steps of a hospital?

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• Drug-resistant TB poses new threat to HCWs

  n extensively drug-resistant strain of tuberculosis (XDR-TB) is virtually untreatable and poses a threat to worldwide TB control.

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• Pandemic warnings could trigger closings

  Even a mild pandemic could result in school closings, cancellation of public gatherings, voluntary quarantines, and absenteeism of employees who must leave work to care for children or elderly relatives, according to interim guidance on community mitigation released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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• Joint Commission Update: Achilles heel of hand hygiene: Monitoring HCW compliance

  The Joint Commission is trying to solve the Achilles heel of hand hygiene: monitoring compliance by health care workers.

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• Joint Commission Update: Loud and clear: Plain language protects patients

  As part of an increasing emphasis on patient empowerment and education, infection control professionals have seen arcane terms such as "nosocomial" de-emphasized in favor of clearer language.

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