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In the nation's biggest tobacco-producing state, no one can smoke or use tobacco on any campus of its 125 acute care hospitals or that of many of its psychiatric hospitals.
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Harry Geller, MBA, administrator of Othello (WA) Community Hospital, lies down to sleep, a smile on his face as he begins to dream about a sure-fire way to solve patient-handling dilemmas. Moments later, he turns into Superman, flying down the hall and running into a patient room to help staff before they're injured. But on his third feat, Geller faces a "heavy" patient and tumbles to the floor.
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The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health offers the following advice for reducing the risk of exposure to sterilants:
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The processor used to disinfect endoscopes was a closed system. The sterilant was a safer alternative to glutaraldehyde. So why were employees complaining of headaches, eye irritation, shortness of breath and a reduction in their sense of smell?
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At most hospitals, Employee Health runs a lean operation with minimal support staff. As H1N1 influenza cases surged and patients filled the emergency departments, employee health departments struggled to cope with their own tsunami of work:
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The collective sigh of relief was almost audible at the approach of the one-year anniversary of the start of the pandemic of novel H1N1 influenza. Hospitals had dodged a bullet.
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Keeping track of work-related musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) would be a new priority under a proposed record-keeping rule, evidence of a new direction for the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
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The death of a nurse from the novel H1N1 and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) should have been more thoroughly investigated for a work-related link, according to the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal-OSHA).
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Here's yet another reason to improve patient handling: Health care workers involved in patient handling tasks may be at greater risk of assaults from patients.
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The release of millions of N95 filtering facepiece respirators during the novel H1N1 pandemic has revealed a potentially serious problem in preparedness: N95 respirators have different fit characteristics, and not all of them can be successfully fit-tested on health care's predominantly female work force.