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The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations is partnering with the University of Tennessee, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America to conduct a four-year study under an Agency for Healthcare Quality and Research-funded grant project entitled Trial to Reduce Antibiotic Prophylaxis Errors (TRAPE).
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Despite legal protections included in the Homeland Security Act, hospitals still face workers compensation liability and possibly other legal exposure from the smallpox vaccination of health care workers, according to lawyers who specialize in the health care field.
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A new blood test for tuberculosis infection could revolutionize the method for screening health care workers and lead to a reduction in false positive results.
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El Camino Hospital in Mountainview, CA, enlisted the health care workers to create a better ergonomic climate.
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Inspections by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) rose this year, exceeding the agencys goals for enforcement action. Of the 37,493 inspections in FY 2002, 159 occurred at hospitals, resulting in 277 citations. The bloodborne pathogen standard continued to be a major source of enforcement action at hospitals, accounting for the greatest number of citations.
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Though recent research supports the need for more infection control staffing than traditionally allotted, ICPs are not expected to press for a specific staffing requirement from the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations.
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Be advised that accreditation surveyors now are looking for signs of implementation of the six patient safety goals established for 2003.
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Health care workers with pneumonia may be the sentinels for a new outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). Faced with the dilemma of identifying the first suspected cases of SARS amid a backdrop of widespread, seasonal respiratory illness, public health authorities are urging hospitals to monitor their employees health.
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In the past outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), some visitors, patients, and employees were exposed to the virus before anyone was aware that another patient or visitor was infected.
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Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) epidemic was its patterns of spread. Sometimes, few people became infected, despite exposure. In other cases, dozens of people became ill.
