Hospital Employee Health – August 1, 2021
August 1, 2021
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OSHA’s COVID-19 Regulation: Better Late Than Never
OSHA's emergency temporary standard (ETS) to protect healthcare workers from COVID-19 is drawing mixed reviews. There certainly is a broad appreciation of OSHA’s effort to protect healthcare workers, but the benefits of the ETS are somewhat mitigated by the fact that it comes 18 months into the pandemic. Many employees are now vaccinated. -
OSHA Publishes COVID-19 ETS with Tight Window on Comments
OSHA has published its Emergency Temporary Standard to protect healthcare workers from COVID-19 as an interim final rule in the Federal Register, allowing only until July 21 to receive comments and feedback. -
Vaccine Mandates Gain Momentum
A federal judge in Texas dismissed a lawsuit filed against Houston Methodist Hospital for mandating the COVID-19 vaccine for healthcare workers as a condition of employment. The plaintiffs are appealing the dismissal, but the action sends a shot across the bow to healthcare workers and others who plan to challenge mandated COVID-19 vaccination programs in hospitals. -
DC, Maryland Mandate Vaccine for Healthcare Workers
Seventy-four hospitals in Maryland and Washington, DC, have announced they will mandate the COVID-19 vaccine for healthcare workers under conditions that may vary at individual sites. -
The Joint Commission Issues Hospital Violence Prevention Standards
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. -
The Greatest Fear Healthcare Workers Have Faced
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. -
Reassuring Vaccine-Hesitant Healthcare Workers
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.