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At the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) Health in Charleston, registration staff are carefully trained in greeting patients and providing a high level of service. "The staff are then monitored to assure adherence to this practice of great customer service," says Susan Pletcher, director of health information and patient access services.
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Giving excellent customer service all the time sounds simple enough, but for most patient access departments, it's becoming pretty complicated. There's a lot more to the job than just being polite while getting all the information necessary to register a patient.
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What is the patient population and age range of the unit?
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Hospitals had a larger number of injuries from overexertion in 2008 than any other industry in the country, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. But even if you cut out most of the patient handling injuries, many back and neck strains and other musculoskeletal injuries would still occur.
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Ten years after the Needlestick Safety and Prevention Act was signed into law, the mandate for safer sharps devices is under review both legally and academically.
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The 3M 8000 respirator recalled by the state of California as poorly fitting has passed muster in a review by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). And Cal-OSHA, the state's occupational safety agency, is none too happy about it.
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In its proposed new guidance on Prevention Strategies for Seasonal Influenza in Healthcare Settings, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stresses the need for health care workers to stay home when they're sick. Specifically, the guidance includes these recommendations:
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Masks are sufficient protection for health care workers involved in routine care of patients with H1N1, according to proposed new guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Preventing transmission also will depend upon vaccination of health care workers and policies that discourage employees from coming to work sick, the agency said.
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When pilots prepare to take off, they follow an audible checklist. A similar strategy, adapted to health care, helped hospitals around the country reduce central-line-associated bloodstream infections.
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More health care workers received the flu vaccine last season than ever before, but that has not eased the pressure to boost immunization rates. Health care workers who fail to get their flu vaccine increasingly face additional infection control burdens, possible termination or public rebuke.
