3 Ways to Handle Hospital Employee Health Challenges

The White House’s sweeping COVID-19 mandates have only increased the importance of establishing efficient and compliant Employee Health (EH) programs. Among other things, such as the vaccination requirement of various healthcare workers, the mandates introduce broad regulations involving nearly 17 million healthcare workers nationwide.¹

With ongoing regulations and constant developments, how can EH departments best meet certain challenges that arise? Below, we will explore some ways that EH can tackle challenges that may concern the health of hospital employees and medical staff, all while ensuring that day-to-day tasks remain compliant and true to accuracy and form.

1. Stay on Top of Vaccines and Immunizations

Few things have caused more contention and turmoil for healthcare employers than the increasing pressure to ensure healthcare employees receive their COVID-19 vaccines. To manage the overall process, leading hospitals are tapping into specialized EHRs to keep track of immunizations, not just for COVID but for flu and other required vaccinations as well.

Software solutions that provide immunization tracking capabilities can help ensure all EH staff members remain compliant to new vaccination rules and regulations as they continue to evolve. Additionally, hospitals can benefit from relying on EHRs that provide a mobile platform with pre-loaded employee data that simplifies the process of scheduling immunization appointments at times and locations convenient for workers.

2. Keep Track of Multiple Exposures

A pandemic outbreak, such as COVID-19, can put the health of many at risk, including those who may not display any immediate, visible symptoms. Often, when it comes to exposure tracking, EH clinicians are required to update each exposed staff member’s file with the same information – a manual task that can be both tedious and time-consuming.

However, the convenience of using a multi-functional EH software solution can help cut down a great portion of a clinician’s work and cumbersome administrative duties. Take Net Health® Employee Health, for instance. This software solution was designed to track multiple exposures with minimum effort and less time, all through the ease of automatic updates.  

3. Ensure Compliance and Proper Documentation 

Traditional manual documentation systems can hamper the compliance efforts of EH. Aside from often being slow, manual systems are prone to human error. Without reliable systems in place, EH departments may be unable to effectively enforce crucial procedures surrounding the following:²

• Federally-compliant infection exposure controls
• Proper PPE fit testing & training
• Vaccination compliance

One of the most effective ways to resolve this problem is to digitize, centralize, and automate the entire EH compliance process. By utilizing an EH software solution, like Net Health® Employee Health, clinicians can securely store compliance-essential data – and then use that data to automate crucial yet repeatable tasks (such as reminders, report generation, and data analysis). Not only does this kind of compliant solution save time and resources, it also greatly decreases costly human error.

With effective processes and problem-solving steps in place, hospitals can continue to keep their employees safe and healthy year-round, while following through on any changing compliance measures. 

Interested to see how you can centralize and improve your EH procedures? Find out more with Net Health Employee Health.

4 Reasons for Employee Health Departments to Choose Electronic Records Over Paper and Manual Processes

Navigating The COVID Era 

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References:

¹ “Path Out of the Pandemic: President Biden’s COVID-19 Action Plan,” The White House, Sept. 2021.
² “Hospital Employee Health,” Resource Overview, Sept. 2021.