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Contraindications to Smallpox Vaccination
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After health care workers receive the smallpox vaccine, employee health professionals will assist with the most important vaccination role: monitoring reactions and protecting patients and others from vaccinia.
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Employee health professionals will not be administering the smallpox vaccine to health care workers, but they may be among the first to receive it under a recommendation approved by two federal advisory panels. About 500,000 health care workers around 100 per hospital may be vaccinated under the latest plan to prepare for bioterrorism. There have been no cases of smallpox worldwide since 1977, so even a single confirmed case of smallpox would be considered a bioterrorism event.
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The Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Preventions (CDC) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) recently approved a plan that calls for smallpox immunization of 510,000 health care workers. The plan suggests that all hospitals should designate a smallpox care team that should be immunized prior to any release of the virus.
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A patchwork of safe patient handling state laws is evolving around the country, presenting a wide range of requirements for hospitals.
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Not enough is known about how to protect health care workers in an influenza pandemic, and that lack of knowledge critically weakens the nation's preparedness, an Institute of Medicine panel has concluded.
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If you want to know the impact of depression on the workplace, just do the math.
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Operating room and recovery room personnel may be exposed to waste anesthetic gases without realizing the danger, and employers should take steps to make sure their ventilation and gas "scavenging" systems are working properly, according to a new informational brochure from the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH).
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A 180-pound patient is partially dependent, able to lift only about half his weight. He's in a chair and needs help standing. How many nurses would it take to help him safely if they have no lift equipment?
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To prepare for an influenza pandemic, you've counted your ventilators and calculated your patient surge, sought options to add bed space and assessed the capacity of the emergency department. But have you estimated how many of your employees will show up for work?