Hospital Employee Health
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Wellness Programs can Improve Health, Reduce Cost for HCWs with Diabetes
Diabetes in healthcare workers is a major driver of medical insurance costs, as the chronic blood sugar disorder can set off a range of health problems and increase risk of stroke and heart disease.
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OSHA Focus on Safe Patient Handling
While there is a general consensus that safe patient handling programs nationally suffer from a lack of implementation and enforcement, employee health professionals should be aware that OSHA is taking a close look at the issue when they inspect healthcare facilities.
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Healthcare Workers Remain At Risk of Patient Handling Injuries
With proposed federal legislation in political limbo, too many nurses and their colleagues at the bedside remain at risk of life-altering injuries as they try to care for an increasing population of acutely ill, heavier patients without safe handling equipment.
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OSHA Cites Home Health Group for Failure to Protect HCWs
With the aging population, home healthcare is rapidly expanding — but worker protections must expand as well to protect employees who may be vulnerable to violence. A recent citation by the Occupational Health and Safety Administration underscores this point, as a company that provides pediatric home health was issued a willful citation and fined $98,000 following the sexual assault of a healthcare worker.
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Zika Update: FDA Says Test Blood Supply in All States
Underscoring the threat of Zika virus transmission via the blood supply, the FDA is calling for all states to screen donations, with Florida to do so immediately.
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Making the Business Case for Safe Patient Handling Equipment
Though every healthcare worker who handles patients is at risk of injury, it may be difficult to convince hospital administrators to purchase a sufficient inventory of safe patient lifting equipment.
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Cancer Patients Urged to be Tested for TB in Seattle
Some 140 cancer patients at two healthcare facilities in Seattle have been advised to seek testing for tuberculosis after a healthcare worker with latent tuberculosis infection developed active disease that went undiagnosed for some time.
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Contagion: A different type of disaster planning
Though an upcoming CMS regulation calls for an “all-hazards” approach to disasters, a pandemic or infectious disease outbreak brings some unique characteristics to the tabletop planning.
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Know What You Don’t Know
Emergency response and employee health ultimately boils down to a paradoxical paradigm: “Know what you don’t know,” says Cathy Floyd, MS, BSN, RN, DPA, COHN-S, regional manager of occupational health at Memorial Hermann Health System in Houston.
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CMS Finalizing Disaster Reg; Includes Training, Assisting HCWs
As dealing with natural disasters and emerging infections becomes the new normal for hospitals, CMS will soon issue “all-hazards” emergency regulations that include requirements for protecting and accommodating healthcare workers, Hospital Employee Health has learned.