Hospital Employee Health – April 1, 2008
April 1, 2008
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Lifts and liability: Avoid workers' comp claims, patient lawsuits
The moment a nurse tries to help a heavy-set, medically fragile patient stand and walk is fraught with risk. With one miscalculation, the patient can fall, and the nurse or the patient — or both — may be seriously injured. If the patient falls, the hospital could have a lawsuit on its hands for failing to use mechanical assist devices that are readily available. -
Poor TST readings lead to false-positives
In the world of tuberculosis screening, sometimes an unfortunate series of events leads down the path toward inappropriate treatment. -
NJ targets workplace violence in hospitals
Verbal abuse, threats, assaults from combative or disoriented patients or emotionally distraught family members — those occurrences are so common in hospitals that many nurses seem to feel it's just "part of the job." -
'Safe Moves' are better for patients, workers
Moving patients safely isn't just a way to protect workers. It also improves the mobility of patients while preventing falls — core components of patient safety and satisfaction. -
Taking the pain out of home health care
The life of a home health nurse is filled with variety, independence, flexibility — and all too often, back pain. While hospitals are implementing safe lifting programs in their facilities, the home health nurse or aide travels from home to home and faces hazards the floor nurse couldn't imagine. -
'Anything on a needle' is a bloodborne risk
No new confirmed cases of occupationally acquired HIV have been reported since 2000. The hepatitis B vaccine has led to a dramatic reduction in new occupationally related cases. But the risk of transmission of disease from bloodborne pathogens to health care workers remains very real — a risk that isn't limited to hepatitis and HIV.