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Screening for latent tuberculosis, once a key function of hospital employee health, has been transformed by new guidelines and new blood tests. The changes have greatly reduced the use of skin testing and freed employee health professionals to perform other important tasks, but they also have created some new, sometimes difficult, issues.
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A better respirator designed specifically for health care workers is on the horizon. Manufacturers are working with the Veterans Health Administration and its Project BREATHE to create a B95, a respirator to protect against biologic hazards.
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Each nurse has a way of coping with the stresses of the job, whether there is conflict with coworkers or patients or difficulty balancing the demands of work and family life. But those who cope most effectively use just one or two strategies, recent research shows.1
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A recent case of hepatitis B transmission from a surgeon to as many as eight patients highlights the potential risk of health care workers who perform exposure-prone procedures but do not know their bloodborne pathogen status. Yet public health authorities say such transmissions are too rare to justify a testing mandate.
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According to guidelines updated in 2012,1 the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends the following measures for identifying and managing hepatitis B virusinfected health-care providers and students:
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A new nightmare bacteria has put renewed emphasis on health care worker use of personal protective equipment and compliance with hand hygiene.
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Want a healthier, happier workforce? Try the team approach to wellness.
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In November 2012, a multi-hospital healthcare system settled allegations of improperly compensating physicians from its many clinics for referrals of Medicare and Medicaid patients. It was alleged by the United States Department of Justice Civil Division that these actions were in direct violation of the False Claims Act and Stark Law. The hospital system agreed to pay $9.3 million to settle those allegations.
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Extremely obese patients are more likely than a patient in the general adverse event population to experience a harmful adverse event, according to information released recently by the Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority (PPSA) in Harrisburg.
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A hospital in Fargo, ND, focused on preventable falls in its cardiac telemetry unit and is seeing admirable results. After a year of effort, falls were reduced by 25% at the end of 2012, and then the hospital hit a 50% reduction barely a month later.
