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TB tracking prevents HCW exposures

Closely tracking infections among health care workers helps Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, TN, detect clusters and prevent further infections.

‘Serial infector’ charged for HCV spread

It began as an infection control nightmare in New Hampshire, but it didnt stop there. A medical technician who worked in the cardiac catheterization lab in Exeter Hospital in Nashua was charged with diverting drugs and reusing the syringes on patients.

Pertussis surges, but HCW vaccination lags

As the nation faces the largest outbreak of pertussis in 50 years, the rate of vaccination of health care workers languishes at about 20%.

Do childhood vaccines protect young HCWs?

In the age of safer needles, vaccination and prophylaxis, the risk of hepatitis B among health care workers has dropped dramatically, from a high of about 12,000 cases a year in the 1980s to 203 reported acute cases from 2005 to 2010. Routine HBV vaccination of infants, which began in 1991, promises to make transmission from blood and body fluid exposures even rarer.

Sharpen focus on TB blood tests

Using a blood test to screen health care workers for tuberculosis can cut your false positives by two-thirds, but it is critical to evaluate the numerical result on the test, according to members of a national TB testing task force.

CMS: Avoid outbreaks with infection control

A mid some high-profile outbreaks of hepatitis C, the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has put health care facilities on notice that inspectors will zero in on infection control practices and observe the practices of health care workers.1

Underreporting puts HCWs at risk of the unknown

Hospital workers are far more likely than employees in any other industry to develop an occupational illness. In 2010, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics logged about 17,000 such illnesses in hospitals. Yet safety experts say its still just the tip of the iceberg. No one knows just how big that iceberg is.

Seeing the forest and the trees

If a health system wins a major national quality award, it must be doing something right, but also something different from other organizations, right? Ask one and likely at some point, a spokesperson will says something about focusing on the patient and striving to improve. But not everyone.