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Night shift nurses aren't the only ones fighting sleepiness during work. Even day shift nurses suffer from sleep deprivation from getting too little sleep at night. A recent study in Michigan found that a comprehensive fatigue management program can improve alertness and prevent fatigue-related errors in nurses regardless of their shift.
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To be a "star" in the eyes of the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration, employers must invite inspectors to take a close look at their employee health and safety program. In the 30 years of the program, not many hospitals have been willing to do that.
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One hundred thousand nurses may soon be part of an effort that could lead to a safer health care workplace.
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In a typical shift, nurses perform dozens of small actions that could put them at risk for carpal tunnel syndrome: pushing the plunger of syringes, pressing blood pressure bulbs, tapping into keyboards. Nurses are among the workers with the highest levels of overexertion injuries, and occupational health researchers are seeking interventions that could reduce that risk.
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A federal advisory panel endorsed an "employer requirement" for health care facilities that fail to vaccinate 90% of their health care workers against influenza but gave employers a wide berth to interpret what type of requirements they might set.
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To usher in one of the most comprehensive rules ever in an anti-regulatory political climate, the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration may need some fire power. The agency lobbed its first volley with a white paper outlining the benefits of an injury and illness prevention program rule.
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While the pressure grows to raise the rate of influenza vaccination of health care workers to 90%, an identical Healthy People 2020 goal for hepatitis B vaccination of health care workers remains quietly unmet.
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Despite workplace protections, pregnant nurses may still be at risk from exposure to chemotherapy and sterilizing agents.
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At the end of February, typically the peak of the influenza season, there were only regional and sporadic cases of flu in most of the United States. In fact, the quiet left some infectious disease experts wondering, "Where is the flu?"
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By Toni C. McKenna, DNSc, RN, director of the Center for Continuing Nursing Education & Health Careers Institute at the University of Texas Arlington.
