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The Joint Commission has issued new hospital violence prevention requirements that call for an annual workplace risk assessment, formation of a safety committee, an incident reporting system, and staff education. The requirements will take effect in January 2022.
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Although the pandemic is being bitterly fought in some areas, the efficacy of the vaccines foretells an eventual ending and aftermath that could include many changes to the healthcare system. Will the routine acceptance of violence in healthcare — most of it inflicted by patients and visitors on staff — finally be called to account?
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The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission guidance includes two important exceptions. Employers remain limited by the provisions of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Americans with Disabilities Act. Title VII requires employers to provide exemptions from any vaccine requirement to employees with sincerely held religious beliefs preventing them from taking the vaccine. Further, the ADA requires employers to provide exemptions from any vaccine requirement to employees with a disability that prevents them from taking the vaccine.
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Guidance from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission indicates healthcare employers can require employees to receive a COVID-19 vaccine. These mandates come with some obligations and risks.
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The new COVID-19 requirements from OSHA for healthcare employers create substantial obligations, but many hospitals already are carrying out much of what is required. The challenge may come in formalizing a written plan and ensuring it addresses all of OSHA’s expectations.
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The results of a recent study highlight the gaps in COVID-19 vaccination among pregnant women in the United States. Although pregnant women are at increased risk for severe illness and death from the disease, many remain unvaccinated.
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Planned Parenthood and other reproductive health organizations have initiated COVID-19 vaccine outreach for their patients and communities. In addition to encouraging staff and patients to take the vaccine, the organizations have taken a positive COVID-19 vaccine message to minority communities and others hit hard by the pandemic.
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A common misperception that has led to vaccine hesitancy in healthcare workers and the public is the COVID-19 vaccines were produced with undue haste, seemingly coming out of nowhere to respond to the pandemic. The extensive scientific work with many other viruses that enabled the rapid development of the pandemic vaccines often is left out of the equation.
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It began with the first five cases reported by the CDC on June 5, 1981. What would become known as HIV/AIDS struck fear in HCWs possibly only rivaled by Ebola virus. HCWs worked at mortal risk, with some dying after needlesticks or other sharps injuries that exposed them to patient blood. What was essentially a terminal diagnosis became treatable when the first antiretrovirals were developed in 1995-1996.
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Effective Jan. 1, 2022, new and revised workplace violence prevention standards will apply to all accredited hospitals and critical access hospitals, The Joint Commission recently announced.
