-
Experts in chemical hazards are cautioning health and safety officials to maintain a high level of protective measures with ortho-phthalaldehyde (OPA). The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has launched a two-year, multihospital study to investigate the potential hazards associated with OPA.
-
Imagine a communitywide outbreak so pervasive that employees fell ill at work, 40% called in sick, and even the chief nursing executive pitched in to work as a staff nurse. This sounds like a scenario from a pandemic influenza drill — but it actually was a real-life episode of norovirus at Missouri Baptist Hospital - Sullivan, a rural hospital about 70 miles from St. Louis.
-
The Joint Commission has proposed standards revisions that could weaken infection control programs "significantly at a time when health care associated infections (HAIs) are receiving increasing attention by legislators, payers, and consumers," ...
-
As many as 62 new drugs may be added to the list of potential workplace hazards by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.
-
Multidrug-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is reaching alarming levels around the country, but at the VA Medical Center in Pittsburgh, MRSA rates have dropped by 60% in the past five years. The key: Health care workers are team players in a comprehensive approach to halting MRSA.
-
Choosing a respirator is partly a matter of numbers. Each one has a rating for its filtration and seal, which reveals how much of the contaminated ambient air would still reach the lungs.
-
The severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) epidemic pointed out the need for better source control among patients, visitors and health care workers with respiratory infections.
-
The Joint Commission has added a new patient safety goal for 2008 that allows hospitals to comply with hand hygiene guidelines by the World Health Organization.
-
The Joint Commission's new standard requiring hospitals to offer influenza vaccine to health care workers is showing some signs of initial impact, but the first real test will be the 2007-2008 flu season.
-
How do you prove the value created by the employee health service? Perhaps you can show a reduction in injury rates or workers comp claims.