Hospital Employee Health – December 1, 2017
December 1, 2017
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Drug Diversion Rampant as Opioid Epidemic Explodes in Communities
A community opioid addiction problem of such staggering scale certainly adds another permutation to the hidden epidemic of drug diversion by healthcare workers.
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CDC: 60,000 Died of Opioid Overdoses in 2016
The nation’s expanding opioid epidemic has many ramifications for healthcare facilities, including the threat of violence by addicts seeking care, exposure of healthcare workers to powerful narcotics, and the potential for street opioids to exacerbate the longstanding problem of drug diversion by healthcare workers.
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The Patient’s Tale: A Victim of Drug Diversion
The story of Lauren Lollini and Kristen Parker is a cautionary tale that healthcare workers tempted to divert drugs should consider.
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Homicide at Hopkins: Healthcare Workers Seek Solace in Aftermath
A recent shocking act of violence at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore quickly underscored the importance of the hospital’s state-of-the art peer responder program: Resilience In Stressful Events (RISE).
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Evidence That Working ‘Bare Below the Elbows’ Protects Patients
Experimental evidence supporting the concept of healthcare workers working “bare below the elbows” to prevent transmission of pathogens to patients via long sleeves was recently presented in San Diego at the IDWeek 2017 conference.
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NIOSH to Focus on Musculoskeletal Injuries
Healthcare workers are among the occupational groups most at risk for musculoskeletal injuries, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health announced in a series of blog posts on these all-too-common harms.