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Introduction: The routine use of heat-producing tools in the perioperative setting generates surgical smoke. Surgical smoke poses a known health hazard for perioperative staff working in the operating room. Objective: The objective of this best practice project was to promote evidence-based practices regarding surgical plume management in a pediatric operating room. Methods: This project was guided by the JBI Model of Evidence-Based Healthcare and used the JBI Practical Application of Clinical Evidence System and the Getting Research into Practice audit and feedback strategy to promote evidence-based practices regarding surgical smoke management in a pediatric operating room. Seven audit criteria representing best-practice recommendations were used. A baseline audit was conducted, followed by the implementation of multiple strategies developed by the key stakeholders. The project was finalized with a follow-up audit to determine any changes in compliance with best-practice recommendations. Results: Baseline audit data indicated an average of 41% compliance with best practices across all audit criteria, revealing the need for significant improvement in five of the seven criteria. Three barriers were identified and strategies were implemented, including the development and implementation of an educational module and a surgical smoke exposure risk assessment tool. Follow-up audits showed an overall improvement of 30% among five of the seven audit criteria. Conclusions: This project yielded improvements with best practices for surgical smoke management in the perioperative setting. However, additional work is required to ensure the sustainability of best practices in this setting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We developed an opioid hazard awareness module for inclusion in required miner safety refresher training. The module was disseminated throughout the United States and post-training surveys showed improved knowledge and positive response to the training. Clinicians can improve care of high-risk worker patients by recommending employer support for such training. Objective: In response to elevated risk factors, an opioid hazard awareness training for the sand, stone, and gravel mining sector was developed and embedded in annual safety training. Methods: After positive results from a prior study among Massachusetts workers, a revised training was disseminated across the United States. Two hundred post-training surveys were obtained and compared with results from the Massachusetts cohort. Results: Participants' knowledge about opioid-based medications, confidence in talking to a doctor about opioids and/or to a coworker about their own use of opioids, and ability to refer struggling coworkers to resources improved. Massachusetts respondents had slightly more favorable responses. Both cohorts had strong positive views of the training. Conclusions: These results highlight the feasibility and effectiveness of opioid hazard prevention training for a high-risk worker population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the effectiveness of curricula for improving knowledge and attitudes pertaining to pesticide exposure and heat illness among immigrant Latino farmworkers. Methods: A pesticide safety curriculum informed by the revised Worker Protection Standard (WPS) was tested against an attention placebo-controlled curriculum (heat illness) in a sample of Latino farmworkers (N= 127). Results: Pesticide safety knowledge increased in the overall sample, but did not differ by curriculum assignment. Pesticide safety behavioral intentions increased among participants in the pesticide safety curriculum but decreased among those in the other curriculum (P < 0.05). Heat illness knowledge and behavioral intentions increased more for farmworkers assigned to the heat illness than the pesticide safety curriculum. Conclusion: The developed curricula show good promise for meeting the spirit of the revised WPS and for reducing the burden of heat-related fatality and morbidity among Latino farmworkers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The aim of this study was to measure musculoskeletal disorders and occupational risk factors among railroad maintenance-of-way (MOW) workers. Methods: Four thousand eight hundred sixteen active, retired, and disabled members of the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division (BMWED) completed a survey. Results: Compared with U.S. employed men, adjusting for age, race, and region, active male MOW workers were more likely to report "repeated lifting, pushing, pulling, or bending" at work (74.6% vs 46.9%), not enough staff (88.1% vs 65.2%), and a diagnosis of carpal tunnel syndrome (7.9% vs 3.6%). They were less likely to report management priority on workplace health and safety (59.37% vs 94.8%), ability to make job decisions on their own (68.4% vs 87.7%), and supervisor support (60.3% vs 90.8%) (all comparisons, P< 0.001). Conclusion: Prevention programs should address risk of musculoskeletal disorders and occupational hazards faced by MOW workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite longstanding recommendations for the safe handling of hazardous drugs, it's not known whether nurses—including those who are pregnant—wear protective gloves and gowns when administering chemotherapeutic drugs. This study examines this practice among nurses in the Nurses' Health Study 3. Background: Many antineoplastic (chemotherapeutic) drugs are known or probable human carcinogens, and many have been shown to be reproductive toxicants in cancer patients. Evidence from occupational exposure studies suggests that health care workers who have long-term, low-level occupational exposure to antineoplastic drugs have an increased risk of adverse reproductive outcomes. It's recommended that, at minimum, nurses who handle or administer such drugs should wear double gloves and a nonabsorbent gown to protect themselves. But it's unclear to what extent nurses do. Purpose: This study assessed glove and gown use by female pregnant and nonpregnant nurses who administer antineoplastic drugs in the United States and Canada. Methods: We used data collected from more than 40,000 nurses participating in the Nurses' Health Study 3. The use of gloves and gowns and administration of antineoplastic drugs within the past month (among nonpregnant nurses) or within the first 20 weeks of pregnancy (among pregnant nurses) were self-reported via questionnaire. Results: Administration of antineoplastic drugs at any time during their career was reported by 36% of nonpregnant nurses, including 27% who reported administering these drugs within the past month. Seven percent of pregnant nurses reported administering antineoplastic drugs during the first 20 weeks of pregnancy. Twelve percent of nonpregnant nurses and 9% of pregnant nurses indicated that they never wore gloves when administering antineoplastic drugs, and 42% of nonpregnant nurses and 38% of pregnant nurses reported never using a gown. The percentage of nonpregnant nurses who reported not wearing gloves varied by type of administration: 32% of those who administered antineoplastic drugs only as crushed pills never wore gloves, compared with 5% of those who administered such drugs only via infusion. Conclusion: Despite longstanding recommendations for the safe handling of antineoplastic and other hazardous drugs, many nurses—including those who are pregnant—reported not wearing protective gloves and gowns, which are considered the minimum protective equipment when administering such drugs. These findings underscore the need for further education and training to ensure that both employers and nurses understand the risks involved and know which precautionary measures will minimize such exposures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many health care organizations are making changes to their hazardous medication surveillance program (HMSP) in response to United States Pharmacopeia (USP) <800> standards. Absence of best practices for HMSPs and limitations on the ability of such programs to correlate health effects identified on surveillance with workplace exposures historically have left health care institutions to determine if and how to design an HMSP for their workforce. Within this article one approach to the design of an HMSP is discussed and resources such as a health questionnaire and declination form are included that could be modified or adopted by other health care organizations. This information is intended to generate further discussion and collaboration among leaders of employee occupational health services on a national level to address the benefits and challenges of HMSPs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on interaction of health and safety of health care workers and patients in the healthcare system of the U.S. It discusses the report titled "To Err is Human" in 2000 published by the U.S. Institute of Medicine related to patient safety. It mentions a Summit hosted by the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM) and the Underwriters Laboratories Integrated Health and Safety Institute (ULIHSI) related to the issues.

The article discusses the findings of a 2011 survey of nurses exploring blood exposure risks from peripheral intravenous (IV) catheter insertion and removal. Results show that majority of respondents estimated that they sustained at least one blood exposure a month during IV catheter insertion. The findings also show that majority of the respondents appear to routinely wear gloves to protect their hands while only 4 percent were wearing goggles or face shied when their exposure occurred.

The article discusses occupational hazards facing pregnant nurses. These nurses face several types of environmental risks including teratogenic chemicals, infectious agents, and radiation. The article also explains several types of infectious diseases including cytomegalovirus (CMV), parvovirus B19, and influenza.

The article looks at the scientific and professional activities of airline flight crew members, who were classified as occupational radiation workers, between 1996 and 2008. During the period, radiation measurement programs were implemented on numerous commercial aircraft flights. The authors explored the involvement and actions taken by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the Association of Flight Attendants (AFA) and other organizations in response to occupational exposure. They discovered that affected workers in the U.S. are not concerned with occupational radiation exposure compared to their European counterparts.

The article presents a study that assesess risks associated with work-related biomechanical overloads in the course of carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS). Results show that biomechanical overload at work plays a key role in the onset of CTS. Risks associated with this exposure appeared to modulate with personal risk factors such as age, sex, and build. The study concludes that wide-scale interventions to encourage workplace adherence to the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists recommendations, respecting threshold limit values especially in women and older men, might provide a key strategy to reduce public health burden of CTS.

Objective: The objective of this article is to introduce the reader to this special supplement to the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine regarding Federal Workers' Compensation Programs. Methods: The short history of both the VHA and DoD Federal Workers' Compensation Programs are provided and a short synopsis of each author's article is provided. Results: The lessons learned from the articles in the supplement are summarized in this article and 6 key findings are highlighted. Conclusions: Cooperation between human resources workers' compensation personnel, safety and occupational health personnel is a must for successful management of the WC program. Information and data sharing are critical for root cause and injury prevention, case management, and cost containment efforts. Enhancing efforts in these areas will save an estimated SI00 million through cost avoidance efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the need to provide nurses' safety which otherwise can lead to the threat in providing medical care. Topics include focus on the murder of nurses in August 2014 who attended a workshop in the African kingdom of Lesotho, establishment of initiatives involving the Health Care in Danger project and the Safeguarding Health in Conflict Coalition by the International Council of Nurses, and need to establish a system that monitors attacks on patients and medical professionals.

The article discusses various issues concerning the exposure of hospital pharmacists and oncology nurses to chemotherapy drugs used to treat cancer patients. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), only 56 percent of workers in large cancer centers wear gloves despite risks of infertility, congenital malformations and cancers. Also discussed are the failure to implement guidelines on handling hazardous drugs and the need for nurses to demand standards and surveillance.

The article focuses on the exposure of nurses and medical personnel to hazardous substances in the form of medications and chemicals in the workplace. The regulation of such substances by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration is discussed. The use of Material Safety Data Sheets to document dangers of exposure is discussed.

A letter to the editor is presented in response to the article "Material Safety Data Sheets in Health Care," by Thomas P. Fuller, published in the August 2010 issue of "Health and Safety."

The article discusses the implication of addiction as an occupational hazard in nursing in the U.S. Nurses are especially vulnerable to addiction to prescription drugs because of work-related stress and easy access to drugs. They have reported a higher rate of a family history of alcoholism than other groups of health care professionals.

The article reports that the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)'s deputy assistant secretary Dorothy Dougherty has released safety guidelines for healthcare professionals to control workplace injuries. Some of the occupational injuries identified include violence, overexertion, and trips.