Hospital Management
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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).
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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.
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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."
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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.
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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.”
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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.
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Orientation Checklist
There always is room for improvement regarding how new employees are trained and oriented. It is important to make sure a proper orientation process is documented and what it entails.
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Surgery Centers Can Improve Patient Record Documentation
From a nursing perspective, medical recordkeeping is more about risk management than it is about complying with regulations. All medical records from surgery centers should tell the stories of patients and include details about their episodes of care.
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Racial Disparities Affect Where Patients Undergo Surgery
Researchers compared two boroughs in New York City: Manhattan and the Bronx. Although the two communities are adjacent, they are markedly different. White patients who lived in the Bronx were significantly more likely than black patients to undergo elective surgery in Manhattan operating rooms.
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Achieving Racial Equity in Surgery Starts with Personal Mindset
Healthcare professionals often are unaware of their own gender, racial, cultural, or religious biases, which can play a role in inequity and disparate outcomes. Read on to learn about a popular assessment surgery center leaders can use to help raise awareness.