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Making written handouts readily available to clinicians interacting with patients is an important element of patient education.
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Almost three in four (71%) of hospital-based health care workers received their flu vaccine last year, showing a sustained commitment to vaccination even after the pandemic subsided, according to a survey conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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Hospitals geared up for their annual influenza immunization campaigns this fall with a greater emphasis on mandatory policies to achieve the highest possible coverage of employees. An advisory from the American Hospital Association gave a push toward mandatory vaccination of health care workers.
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The push for sharps safety has moved out of the hospital into outpatient facilities. Safety experts are urging physician offices, urgent care clinics, ambulatory surgery centers and others to boost their compliance with the Bloodborne Pathogens Standard. And in some states, the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration is backing that up with random inspections.
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Even in the dead of winter, St. Joseph Mercy Hospital in Ann Arbor, MI, serves up freshly picked vegetables and sells produce in a hospital-based farmer's market. It is locally grown in a "hoop house" on the hospital's own farm.
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The flu vaccine is very effective for older children and adults, aged 10 to 49 years, but may be less effective than believed for the population overall, according to two recent studies.
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More and more hospitals are adopting a policy that mandates influenza immunization for their employees with patient safety as the primary rationale. But some ethical questions linger:
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In its Prevention Strategies for Seasonal Influenza in Healthcare Settings, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends the following measures to avoid transmission from ill health care workers:
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★ Default non-select pediatric patient menus for children 2-18 to meet the American Heart Association guidelines. To be completed by Jan. 1, 2013
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In the first weeks of the H1N1 pandemic, a physician became ill at a Chicago hospital and tested positive for the virus. Then other health care workers became ill and tested positive an outbreak that began at a time when the virus was not widespread in the community.
