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When this pandemic influenza season eases and there is time to ponder lessons learned, here's one question on the top of the list: Why did some corporations, such as Goldman Sachs and Citigroup, obtain vaccine before hospitals?
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No one can escape the reverberations of this economic downturn. Yet while employee health professionals weather the realities of trying to do more with less, they also are more vital than ever to their hospital's operations.
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One-third of occupational health practitioners have faced pressure from employers or workers to undertreat and underreport work-related injuries, according to a report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), an investigative arm of Congress.
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Don't come to work sick. Perform hand hygiene after all patient contacts or after shaking someone's hand. Report any flu-like symptoms.
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With federal officials requiring the use of N95 respirators for H1N1 pandemic influenza A patients, an emergency services nurse provides a clinical tip to properly use the masks without contaminating them.
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Floor covering and floor cleaners may seem like subjects for a facilities manager and not occupational health professionals. But flooring is a critical aspect of one of the most common injuries in hospitals.
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Three infection control organizations the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America, the Infectious Diseases Society of America, and the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology have written President Barack Obama, requesting an immediate moratorium on OSHA enforcement of the use of N95 respirators in relation to novel H1N1.
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Finally, there's some relief in sight from the frustrations of fit-testing N95 respirators. Manufacturers will be required to make respirators that fit most people well under a rule proposed by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.
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It is challenging enough to ensure compliance with Medicare billing rules within your own organization, but don't forget that you also can be drawn into someone else's scam. Federal authorities are cracking down on billing fraud that originates outside your hospital, and if you aren't careful, you can be caught up in the prosecution, with all the attached liability.
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Ironically, the fifth wrong-site surgery occurred at Rhode Island Hospital as it continues working with The Joint Commission's Center for Transforming Healthcare on improving surgical protocols. The hospital volunteered for the project to improve the safeguards to prevent patients from undergoing wrong-site, wrong-side, and wrong-patient surgical procedures.
