Healthcare Worker Safety

Nurses and nursing assistants suffer the most nonfatal assaults resulting in injury. BLS rates measure the number of events per 10,000 full-time workers—in this case, assaults resulting in injury. In 2000, health service workers overall had an incidence rate of 9.3 for injuries resulting from assaults and violent acts. Healthcare workers face an increased risk of work-related assaults stemming from 

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The practice of universal precautions is Federal Law in the United States, and it is the responsibility of every employer or institution that healthcare workers have the resources and training necessary to adhere to these safety precautions.Additionally, support for continued practice of universal precautions needs to come from all levels of administration. Observations by Gershon et al. indicate that one of the strongest correlates with compliance is the institutional safety climate.This implies that if healthcare workers perceive their work environment to be conducive to practicing universal precautions, then they will be more likely to do so. 

Spontaneous adverse event reporting may be defined as any system of safety data collection which relies upon physicians, other healthcare workers and sometimes patients to report adverse clinical events which, they suspect, may be causally related to the administration of a drug or drugs. It is these systems which are sponsored by the governments of virtually all developed countries and, increasingly, by developing countries as well. For the physician in the pharmaceutical industry it is this method of safety evaluation that will most frequently be encountered and, in spite of its numerous defects and limitations, will take up much working time. 

AC Hamilton, ed. Guidelines for Protecting the Safety and Health of Healthcare Workers. Department of Health and Human Services (NIOSH CDC), DHHS (NIOSH) Pubhcation 88-119, 1988. 

Although airborne transmission poses serious safety risks, contact contamination is generally recognized as the principal transmission route of nosocomial infections, such as MRSA and C difficile, which survive well on surfaces and other reservoirs (Bauer et al., 1990 lOM, 2004). Healthcare workers hands play a key role in both direct and indirect transmissions. A staff member may touch two patients in succession without washing his or her hands, or touch an environmental surface or feature after direct contact with an infected patient, which in turn contaminates the hands of someone else (Ulrich and Wilson, 2006). Because MRSA can survive for weeks on environmental surfaces, these surfaces can themselves become the source of new outbreaks. 

A sample of 475 staff from 10 hospitals in Costa Rica, Gimeno et al. (2005) found that safety culture was related to self-reported work-related injuries. Another study of 789 hospital-based healthcare workers in the USA, found that experienced blood and body fluid exposure incidents for workers were lower when senior management support, safety feedback and training were perceived favourably (Gershon et al. 2000). In Japan, reduced needle-stick and sharp injuries to hospital workers were associated with safety culture factors, such as being involved in health and safety matters (Smith et al. 2010). In our Scottish hospital sample, we collected information on self-reports of worker injuries, as well as observed errors affecting patients. 

When healthcare workers safely behaviours were assessed through observational techniques, Zohar et al. (2007) showed both group and hospital level culture as predictors of the future safety behaviours (e.g. medication and emergency safety), observed in a sample of 955 nurses in Israel. Since observations can be difficult to gather in hospitals, self-report measures are also used to assess safety behaviours such as workers safety compliance and safety participation behaviours). Positive associations between safely culture and their self-reported measure of safety behaviours were shown in a sample of 525 employees in an Australian hospital (Neal et al. 2000). Later, improvements in these behaviours at the group level were linked to a reduction in future aceident rates (Neal and Griffin 2006). A similar measure was included as a measure of workers safety behaviour in this Scottish study. 

NIOSH conducts research and makes recommendations that help prevent work-related injury and illness. NIOSH, established by the OSH Act of 1970, operates under the administrative control of CDC. Although NIOSH and OSHA were created by the same Act of Congress, they operate as distinct agencies with separate responsibilities. However, NIOSH and OSHA often work together toward the common goal of protecting worker safety and health. NIOSH publishes educational resources and guidelines on a number of healthcare- and hospital-related topics. 

As pharmacists are responsible for the purchasing of medical devices, they will be involved with risks for other healthcare workers as well. They may know that the best prevention against NSI is the use of safety-engineered sharp devices (SEDs). There a two kind of SEDs [88] ... 

Active devices (manual, semi-automatic) require the user to activate the safety feature. For example snapping a cap over the needle (see Fig. 26.10). Active devices are only as good as the operator using them. If the operator fails, for whatever reason, to activate a safety feature, then the device is not protected and, therefore, the healthcare worker is at risk from a NSI. 

Simulation-based education (SBE) has been introduced as an efFective method for training healthcare workers [1]. SBE can improve patient safety in healthcare facilities in different ways, particularly if used in individual skills [2]. As a result of the proven efficacy of SBE, there has been an increased number of simulation centers worldwide. These centers have various visions, purposes, and functionahties. Most of them are tailored to deliver education to particular healthcare giver categories or undergraduate trainees, with the end result being better training, reduced medical errors, and thus improved patient safety and quality of care in many medical domains. 

With more than 25 years of innovation in respiratoiy and hearing proteotion, Moldex is one of the most recognized and respeoted names in industrial worker safety and healthcare. We currently have manufacturing facilities in both the United States and Europe, sales offices and warehouses worldwide, and distribution in more than 50 countries. More than 50 patents differentiate our products, making them more comfortable to wear, which facilitates compliance. 

Centers for Disease Control. Guidelines of prevention of 18. transmission of human immunodeficiency virus and hepatitis B virus to healthcare and public-safety workers. A Response to P.L, 100-607. The Health Omnibus Programs Extension Act of 1988. Morb. Mort. Wkly. Rep. 1989, 38... 

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