Hospital Employee Health
RSSArticles
-
One COVID-19 Patient Exposed 43 Healthcare Personnel
An unsuspected case of COVID-19 — hospitalized as the pandemic was beginning in the United States — exposed 43 healthcare personnel and caused what are thought to be the first occupational infections with the virus, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported.
-
COVID-19: Nine Out of 10 HCP Recover Without Hospitalization
In what is considered an underestimate, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently reported that more than 9,000 healthcare workers in the United States have been infected with novel coronavirus and 27 have died. Despite the severity of a spectrum of cases, 90% of the healthcare workers recovered without hospitalization.
-
OSHA Allows ‘Enforcement Discretion’ During COVID-19
Responding to respirator shortages during the outbreak of novel coronavirus, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration has issued a memorandum allowing “enforcement discretion” by compliance officers citing the Respiratory Protection standard (29 CFR § 1910.134).
-
CDC Defines ‘Low-Risk’ Occupational Exposures to Coronavirus
The CDC recently issued guidelines allowing healthcare personnel (HCP) to continue working if they incur only “low-risk” exposures to patients with COVID-19. With some reported cases of large numbers of HCP furloughed after exposures, the CDC is moving to preserve the workforce in situations where HCP are exposed to infected patients through minor breaks in protocol or personal protective equipment.
-
CDC Guidance for Use of Facemasks During Crisis
The CDC’s recommendation for optimizing the supply of facemasks include “contingency” and “crisis” capacity. These are steps hospitals can take if they are no longer at “conventional” capacity, when standard measures remain in effect. The CDC defines contingency capacity as practices that may be used temporarily during periods of expected facemask shortages. Crisis capacity may call for stopgap measures “that are not commensurate with U.S. standards of care."
-
Crossing the Fine Line Between Fear and Courage
A truism that has been observed in various forms is the only time one can show courage is when one acts in the face of fear. This is what healthcare workers responding to the coronavirus pandemic are essentially doing, one expert says.
-
CDC Guidelines for Reuse of N95 Respirators
With reuse of N95 respirators in effect at many hospitals, the CDC has issued recommendations that begin with the caveat “there is no way of determining the maximum possible number of safe reuses for an N95 respirator as a generic number to be applied in all cases.”
-
Spring of Fear: ED Staff Face Surging Coronavirus
Emergency physicians and other frontline clinicians are trying to hold the line against an accelerating coronavirus pandemic in the United States, even as they fear for their own safety and that of their families and colleagues. A shortage of personal protective equipment — particularly N95 respirators — ratcheted up the anxiety, as did the accumulating media reports of healthcare worker deaths, illness, and home quarantine.
-
FDA, U.S. Labs Team Up on COVID-19 Testing
Officials race against the clock to rapidly close the gap on kit shortages.
-
CDC Posts Draft Guideline on Healthcare Personnel Infections
Employee health professionals have until April 27 to comment on the latest section of the CDC’s draft guidelines, “Infection Control in Healthcare Personnel,” posted in the Federal Register.