Anyone doubting the prevalence of workplace violence (WPV) in the healthcare setting need only search online for “injuries to healthcare workers.” In a sector rife with occupational hazards—from slips and falls to sharps injuries and infections—a significant portion of the links are sure to mention WPV, with many even focusing…

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Editor's Note Guidelines for the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) about when healthcare workers should wear N95 masks are less stringent than those from California’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health (OSHA), Medical Xpress reported on December 21. Specifically, the CDC’s advisory committee has suggested that health workers wear surgical…

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Editor's Note The Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC) on March 8 announced the publication of a new report outlining actions needed to successfully battle future pandemics while fighting the rise in healthcare-associated infections (HAIs). Some recommendations in the 66-page report, titled “Between a Rock and Hard…

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Editor's Note In January, 5,757 workers lost their employment because they refused to get vaccinated against COVID-19 as ordered by a federal mandate and various local mandates covering private businesses. Out of those workers, 4,934 were healthcare providers, the February 4 Becker’s Hospital Review reports from data gathered by executive…

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Editor's Note The Supreme Court on January 13 blocked the federal government’s COVID-19 vaccine-or-test requirement for workplaces with 100 or more employees, but the Court is allowing a vaccine mandate for healthcare workers at facilities that receive Medicaid and Medicare funds. The order covers more than 17 million healthcare workers…

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Editor's Note This study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) finds that 30% of healthcare workers (HCWs) in 2,086 US hospitals remained unvaccinated against COVID-19 as of September 15. Analyzing data on more than 3.3 million HCWs, the researchers found that vaccination rates climbed from 36% to…

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Health systems across the country are enacting COVID-19 mandates to comply with a broad-sweeping federal requirement. Amid reports of high compliance rates, the mandate has triggered passionate and visceral responses on both sides of the debate. While some healthcare employees are eager to roll up their sleeves, others decry the…

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Editor's Note COVID-19 vaccination requirements have caused some organizations to fire healthcare workers (HCWs) for noncompliance, and HCWs have quit over the policies, the September 17 Becker’s Hospital Review reports. Healthcare systems announcing resignations and terminations include the following: Morehead, Kentucky-based St Claire HealthCare has fired 23 HCWs for noncompliance…

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Part 1 of this two-part series discussed the splashes and the potential for exposure to pathogens that personnel face daily in sterile processing and endoscopy departments, as well as the current guidelines and strategies for reducing exposures (OR Manager, July 2021, pp 1, 9-11, 15). These risks were derived from…

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What exactly is required to prepare instruments for transport to the decontamination room after a surgical procedure? Point-of-use cleaning, which may also be referred to as precleaning, has been used to describe instrument preparation at the point of use after a surgical procedure. But both point-of-use cleaning and precleaning have…

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