Healthcare Workers: Protect Yourselves!
Healthcare workers (HCWs) are at risk for exposure to serious, and sometimes deadly, diseases. If you work directly with patients or handle material that could spread infection, you should get appropriate vaccines to reduce the chance that you will get or spread vaccine-preventable diseases. Protect yourself, your patients, and your family members. Make sure you […]
How to prevent needlestick and sharps injuries
CDC: “Needlestick and other sharps injuries are a serious hazard in any healthcare setting. Contact with contaminated needles, scalpels, broken glass, and other sharps may expose healthcare workers to blood that contains pathogens which pose a grave, potentially lethal risk. If you experience a needlestick or sharps injury or are exposed to the blood or […]
Puncture: Exposure for Bloodborne Pathogen Exposure
A dedicated and hard-working nurse is going through a normal shift. Checking vital signs, updating medical records, administering medications, comforting patients, drawing blood samples, inserting IVs, and then OUCH! What just happened? Is that a red dot underneath the glove? This can’t be right… Read more
US Department of Labor’s OSHA revises Hazard Communication Standard
WASHINGTON – To better protect workers from hazardous chemicals, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has revised its Hazard Communication Standard, aligning it with the United Nations’ global chemical labeling system. The new standard, once implemented, will prevent an estimated 43 deaths and result in an estimated $475.2 million in enhanced productivity […]
TB Data Statistics
Tuberculosis (TB) is one of the world’s deadliest diseases: One third of the world’s population are infected with TB. In 2011, nearly 9 million people around the world became sick with TB disease. There were around 1.4 million TB-related deaths worldwide. TB is a leading killer of people who are HIV infected. A total of […]
What Can You Do to Reduce Sharps Injuries?
Safety Culture: What Can You Do to Reduce Sharps Injuries? Endorse the STOP STICKS campaign objectives and communicate to all staff (including management, clinical, and non-clinical) the organization’s commitment to the safety campaign. Ask managers and staff to also commit time and resources to the campaign. Attend briefing (or read materials) on establishing a […]
Oklahoma bill would create first dental assistant permit in the nation
A bill that would create the first oral surgery dental assistant permit in the country and require all dental assistants to have permits is awaiting the governor’s signature. Senate Bill 684 comes months after Tulsa oral surgeon Dr. W. Scott Harrington was found to be using unsanitary equipment and poor infection-control procedures that could have […]
Viral Hepatitis Transmission
Viral Hepatitis Transmission People can be infected with the three most common types of hepatitis in these ways: • HAV: Ingestion of contaminated fecal matter, even in tiny amounts, from close person-to-person contact with an infected person, sexual contact with an infected person, or contaminated food, drink, or objects. • HBV: Contact with infectious blood, […]
CDC Scientists Produce Speedy Results Analyzing H7N9 Virus
Infectious Diseases
Healthcare workers (HCWs) are occupationally exposed to a variety of infectious diseases during the performance of their duties. Moreover, these workers can be found in a variety of workplace settings, including hospitals, nursing care facilities, outpatient clinics (e.g., medical and dental offices, and occupational health clinics), ambulatory care centers, and emergency response settings. The diversity […]
New England Hematology/Oncology Associates faces nearly $47,000 in proposed fines
ANDOVER, Mass. – New England Hematology/Oncology Associates PC, a medical service provider in Newton, has been cited by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration for an alleged willful and an alleged serious violation of workplace safety standards after an OSHA inspection revealed that workers were being exposed to biohazards. Proposed penalties total […]
Hepatitis Testing Day
May 19, 2013 is Hepatitis Testing Day. Health care workers are at risk of contracting hepatitis B and C in the workplace. Doctors, nurses, and other staff are predominately exposed to these devastating and incurable diseases through needle sticks and other sharps injuries or when fluids from patients splash onto their eyes, nose, or mouth. Hepatitis […]