Hospital Employee Health
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Nurse Suicides Finally Coming to Light
Overcoming the historic dearth of data on a critical issue, the authors of a new study reported that nurses are at higher risk of suicide than the general population. Researchers reported that female nurse suicide rates in the United States were significantly higher than for women in general, with a rate of 11.9 per 100,000 nurses, compared to 7.5 suicides per 100,000 women in the population. Male nurse suicides are even higher, with a rate of 39.8 per 100,000, compared to 28.2 per 100,000 men in general.
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Quantifying the Occupational Risk of Tuberculosis
The CDC published data on the level of tuberculosis in healthcare workers, which was used in part to support the recent recommendations to drop routine annual TB testing in the absence of an exposure or ongoing transmission. The epidemiology has shifted, with workers coming from countries endemic for TB much more likely to manifest later symptoms. Although it must be underscored that there still is TB in the United States, healthcare workers are not at the risk they once were.
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Healthcare Workers at Risk of Slips, Trips, and Falls
In a study that has implications for preventing slip injuries in healthcare, researchers at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health found that wearing slip-resistant shoes dramatically reduced workers’ compensation claims for school food service workers. The study included some 17,000 food service workers from 226 school districts.
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WHO Declares Ebola Outbreak an International Emergency
The World Health Organization (WHO) recently declared an international health emergency for the ongoing Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo after a case appeared in a highly populated city with global air travel. In declaring an international emergency, the WHO is calling for international aid and assistance while emphasizing that it would be counterproductive to shut down travel to the region.
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The Joint Commission: Preventing Nursing Burnout
The Joint Commission (TJC) has identified nurse staffing, recruitment, and retention as “priorities for further evaluation in the coming year” to prevent nursing burnout. TJC recently issued a Quick Safety alert, emphasizing that nursing burnout can worsen patient outcomes, including mortality. The report cited a 2017 literature review on preventing nursing burnout that identified six studies, representing 3,248 nurses worldwide. These studies revealed that the most common factors related to burnout are exclusion from the decision-making process, the need for greater autonomy, security risks, and staffing issues.
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Physician Burnout: Seeking Resilience in a Broken System
Healthcare facilities and employee health professionals have responded to an epidemic of physician burnout with programs to build resiliency, such as yoga and mindfulness meditation. However, even advocates of these approaches say they are not a panacea, as larger system-level problems are driving physician frustration and subsequent burnout.
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Adequate Staffing Protects Patients and Workers
Nurses fighting to improve inadequate staffing levels at hospitals often cite patient safety, which holds a high moral ground while also speaking directly to the bottom-line concerns of the C-suite. As staff ratio laws are debated in various states, a new study might be presented as evidence of the issue.
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Healthcare Workers Are Working Sick During Flu Season
The CDC reminds the public every influenza season that those infected can spread the virus one day before symptoms appear. Yet, even when the first symptoms occur, healthcare workers may continue working with acute respiratory illness.
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Negative Attitudes Can Lead to Poor Outcomes
“Surgeons who model unprofessional behaviors may help to undermine a culture of safety, threaten teamwork, and thereby increase risk for medical errors and surgical complications," according to study authors.
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More Than Half of Healthcare Pharmacists Report Burnout
Factors contributing to burnout include low pharmacist-to-patient ratios and expectations to conduct research in addition to daily duties.