Efficient Ways to Onboard New EH Staff as Hospitals Hire More Healthcare Workers
It’s no secret that the turnover rate in healthcare facilities has led to a massive increase in hiring. A 2022 survey from Aon of over 1,200 U.S. hospitals showed that 83% have recently accelerated clinical hiring.1 Other hospitals have increasingly looked to contract workers for relief.2 For Employee Health (EH) departments, onboarding tasks have increased…
Standardizing Risk Assessments Across Your EH Organization
The health and wellbeing of all healthcare workers (HCWs) are integral to the operation of hospitals and clinics. However, work injury and illness among healthcare workers are among the highest in any industry sector.1 Recently, risks have come from COVID-related infections, burnout, and workplace violence.2 But sharps injuries, chemical and drug exposures, back injuries, and…
How Employee Health and OccMed Can Manage Flu Vaccine Reporting During COVID
Organizing year-round immunization programs for healthcare workers (HCWs) is already challenging for Employee Health (EH) departments and Occupational Medicine (OccMed) clinics. But ensuring that HCWs receive their annual flu shot is crucial to the health of both practitioners and their patients, and it’s doubly challenging during the current pandemic when EH and OccMed employees are…
Keeping Track of Multiple Exposures in Employee Health
Infection control and prevention among healthcare workers (HCWs) is crucial to keeping a facility safe and compliant. But tracking employee exposures can be overwhelming during public health emergencies, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, when hundreds of employee records may need to be modified quickly.1 Multiple exposure tracking in hospitals and clinics requires: Below, we’ll look…
How to Create and Promote Employee Health Teamwork
In Employee Health (EH), teamwork is critical to patient safety. Experts are only beginning to recognize the role of teamwork in promoting healthcare worker safety. For example, a recent study found that hospital units where there is a high level of teamwork (as compared to units where there isn’t), staff members experience fewer workplace injuries….
Managing Back Pain in Employee Health and OccMed
Back pain is the most common work-related musculoskeletal disorder related to absenteeism in every occupation.1 Low back pain (LBP) is the most common type of back pain, affecting 1 in 4 American workers.2 It costs the nation $100 billion annually.3 Recent research suggests that current health and safety measures are insufficient when dealing with workplace…
History of Infectious Disease Outbreaks in EH/OM World
Healthcare workers (HCWs) have a high risk of coming into contact with infectious agents and bloodborne pathogens (BBP), including human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), hepatitis B, hepatitis C, influenza (whether it’s seasonal flu or an outbreak of swine or avian flu), methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), measles, and now, SARS-CoV-2 (which causes COVID-19). Because U.S. hospitals admit…