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When removing personal protective equipment, it's important for health care workers to realize that the gowns, gloves, masks, and goggles are contaminated. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) have slightly different protocols, but both are designed to prevent health care workers from becoming ill from contaminated PPE.
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Imagine a disposable respirator that fits well right out of the box. Or perhaps even a respirator that's inexpensive and requires no annual fit-test.
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No more needlesticks. That sounds like a laudable goal that could prevent health care workers from being exposed to deadly diseases. But, in tandem, hospitals need to maintain another important message that could actually cause their numbers to rise: Report all needlesticks.
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OSHA has proposed wording changes to the following sections of standards that related to the health care industry:
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It just takes an evening of viewing the television drama E.R. to know that hospital work is stressful. But the stress that evolves into an occupational hazard isn't from treating trauma victims or mysterious illnesses.
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Many hospitals would be happy to lift their rate of health care worker influenza immunization past 60% or 70%, but in Iowa, the bar is quite a bit higher than that. In fact, it is near perfection.
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Lapses in personal protective equipment and training could soon become a lot more costly. The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration has proposed a "clarification" of rules, including the respirator protection and bloodborne pathogen standards, that give it authority to magnify fines for hospitals and other employers.
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Documentation templates can require a significant investment, especially when you also are planning to hire additional staff to further enhance your documentation process. Showing supreme confidence in your plan, say the experts, can go a long way toward convincing management the investment makes sense.
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ED managers who don't currently use a documentation tool that prompts you to take actions that will ensure optimal reimbursement are missing an opportunity to significantly enhance revenues, says Robert B. Takla, MD, FACEP, vice chief emergency services at St. John Hospital and Medical Center, Detroit.
