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A recent case of hepatitis B transmission from a surgeon to as many as eight patients highlights the potential risk of health care workers who perform exposure-prone procedures but do not know their bloodborne pathogen status. Yet public health authorities say such transmissions are too rare to justify a testing mandate.
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Each nurse has a way of coping with the stresses of the job, whether there is conflict with coworkers or patients or difficulty balancing the demands of work and family life. But those who cope most effectively use just one or two strategies, recent research shows.1
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A better respirator designed specifically for health care workers is on the horizon. Manufacturers are working with the Veterans Health Administration and its Project BREATHE to create a B95, a respirator to protect against biologic hazards.
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Screening for latent tuberculosis, once a key function of hospital employee health, has been transformed by new guidelines and new blood tests. The changes have greatly reduced the use of skin testing and freed employee health professionals to perform other important tasks, but they also have created some new, sometimes difficult, issues.
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Hospitals should identify which employees could be exposed to hazardous drugs and should track their medical history in a surveillance program, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) said in a recent notice.
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The toughest flu vaccine mandate in the country faces a legal challenge from the nation's largest union representing health care workers.
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The day after the horrific Dec. 14, 2012 shootings at an elementary school in Newtown, CT, a visitor who was reportedly upset over the cardiac care his wife received shot two employees and a police officer at St. Vincent's Hospital in Birmingham, AL before he was killed by another officer on the scene.
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Nurses often don't know when or how to use respirators, and the fault may lie with their education or the lack of it.
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When you get on an airplane, you expect layers of precautions to prevent any error that could lead to failure and injury. You demand the same or even greater care from the nearby nuclear power plant. And now, you can expect that serious attention to safety from a growing number of hospitals.
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In a move that raises the profile of employee health, The Joint Commission accrediting agency is expanding its definition of a "sentinel event" to include serious injury to health care workers.
