Category Archives: Resources

Announcing OSHA-NIOSH Heat Safety Tool

As part of our effort to keep you informed of new OSHA resources, we wanted to let you know about the release of the OSHA-NIOSH Heat Safety Tool.  The new app, available for both Android and iPhone, is a collaborative effort between OSHA and NIOSH to update the OSHA Heat Safety Tool.  Since its launch in 2011, more than 450,000 users have downloaded the OSHA Heat Safety Tool.  With the release of the co-branded version, which provides a new and refreshed interface, both agencies expect to reach even more users.  Anyone using the current version of the OSHA Heat Safety Tool is encouraged to download the new OSHA-NIOSH Heat Safety Tool.  The OSHA Heat Safety Tool will no longer be available for download after September 30, 2017.

For more information, see the NIOSH Science Blog post:  Heat Index: When humidity makes it feel hotter.

CDC Yellow Book 2018

The fully revised and updated CDC Yellow Book 2018: Health Information for International Travel codifies the U.S. government’s most current health guidelines and information for clinicians advising international travelers, including pre-travel vaccine recommendations, destination-specific health advice, and easy-to-reference maps, tables and charts. The 2018 Yellow Book includes important travel medicine updates:

  • The latest information about emerging infectious disease threats such as Zika, Ebola and MERS.
  • New cholera vaccine recommendations.
  • Updated guidance on the use of antibiotics in the treatment of travelers’ diarrhea.
  • Special considerations for unique types of travel, such as wilderness expeditions, work-related travel and study abroad.

Violence in the Hospital: Preventing Assaults Using a Clinical Approach

A clinical mindset can reduce assaults in the health care workplace, read more…

Related Articles
4 Precautionary Steps to Halt Violence in Your Hospital, a risk management expert urges health care leaders to adopt a zero tolerance culture.

Information provided by Bobbi Jo Hurst, RN, BSN, COHN-S

harps Injuries among Hospital Workers

Sharps Injuries among Hospital Workers in Massachusetts: Findings from the Massachusetts Sharps Injury Surveillance System, 2015

This report and prior year reports can be found on the Occupational Health Surveillance Program website (www.mass.gov/dph/ohsp) under Needlesticks and Other Sharps InjuriesData and Statistics. The direct link to the report is http://www.mass.gov/eohhs/docs/dph/occupational-health/injuries/injuries-hospital-2015.pdf.

Information provided by MaryAnn Gruden, MSN, CRNP, NP-C, COHN-S/CM

ACOEM Medical Center Occupational Health Services Guidance

Thanks to the diligence of Dr. Mark Russi, who led the writing team, the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM) Guidance Document on Occupational Health Services in Medical Centers has been updated and published on the ACOEM website. This is the latest and by far the most comprehensive in the 35-year history of ACOEM’s published guidelines for employee health in medical centers.

The document represents a collation of pertinent guidelines, best practices and professional opinions applicable to the practice of occupational medicine in the medical center setting. It is intended to assist hospital-based occupational medicine practitioners in handling the broad range of issues they encounter when tasked by their employers to focus on the health and safety of workers in the healthcare environment. The 30-page document contains numerous hyperlinks which will be updated periodically to incorporate new information as it becomes available.

Authored by Mark Russi, MD, MPH, Lawrence D. Budnick, MD, MPH, Amy Behrman, MD, William G. Buchta, MD, MPH, Michael J. Hodgson, MD, MPH, Melanie D. Swift, MD and Lori A. Rolando, MD, the document is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Geoff Kelafant, who died tragically in March 2004. ACOEM’s Special Interest Section on Medical Center Occupational Health (MCOH) has provided the driving force for maintenance and publication of evidence-based guidelines in the field of employee health in healthcare facilities for several decades, and Dr. Kelafant was responsible for the innovative concept of publishing the guidelines online in a format which could be easily updated as new information and new evidence became available.

As Dr. Paul Papanek has observed, “The updated MCOH guidance document is superb, and it is likely to serve as THE textbook for providers taking care of hospital and other healthcare workers for a long time.”

Information provided by Joe Fanucchi, MD, FACOEM

CDC Posts Updated Td VIS

On April 11, CDC posted an updated Td VIS. This update corrects an error in the February 24,  2015 Td VIS. The instruction to talk to your doctor if you “have seizures or another nervous system problem” has been removed. This precaution applies to Tdap vaccine but not to Td, and was inadvertently included on the Td VIS.

Providers may continue to use existing stocks of the outgoing VIS, but should make patients aware that this is NOT a precaution for Td.

Related Links

General Best Practice Guidelines for Immunization

CDC has released the General Best Practice Guidelines for Immunization as an online report, and it is available on the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) webpage (https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/hcp/acip-recs/general-recs/index.html). General Best Practice Guidelines for Immunization replaces the General Recommendations on Immunization, last published in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) in 2011.

General Best Practice Guidelines for Immunization goes beyond vaccination recommendations to give providers guidelines on vaccination practice. The document will help vaccination providers to assess vaccine benefits and risks, use recommended administration practices, understand the most effective strategies for ensuring that vaccination coverage in the population remains high, and communicate the importance of vaccination to reduce the effects of vaccine-preventable disease.

By releasing the General Best Practice Guidelines for Immunization as an online report, ACIP will be able to update the document more quickly, giving vaccination providers the most up-to-date guidance on vaccination practice. The updated guidelines include:

  1. Confirmation that if a patient is not acutely, moderately or severely ill, vaccination during hospitalization is a best practice.
  2. New information on simultaneous vaccination and febrile seizures.
  3. Enhancement of the definition of “precaution” to include any condition that might confuse diagnostic accuracy.
  4. More descriptive characterization of anaphylactic allergy.
  5. Incorporation of protocols for management of anaphylactic allergy.
  6. Allowances for alternate route (subcutaneous instead of intramuscular) for hepatitis A vaccination.
  7. An age cutoff of 12 years through 17 years for validating a dose of intradermal influenza vaccine.
  8. Deletion of much of the storage and handling content, including information on storage units, temperature monitoring and expiration dates. (This content is now contained and continually updated in CDC’s Vaccine Storage and Handling Toolkit, available at https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/hcp/admin/storage/toolkit/index.html.)
  9. Incorporation of the Infectious Diseases Society of America guidance on vaccination of persons with altered immunocompetence.
  10. Timing of intramuscular administration in patients with bleeding disorders.
  11. Updated data on vaccination record policy.
  12. Additional impacts of the Affordable Care Act on adult vaccination.
  13. Updated programmatic contact information on source material for vaccine information.

Continuing education (CE) credit is available for the General Best Practice Guidelines for Immunization.

Access General Best Practice Guidelines for Immunization on CDC’s website as an HTML document. Download General Best Practice Guidelines for Immunization as a PDF document (194 pages). Send questions regarding immunization practice to NIPinfo@cdc.gov.

New Interim Guidance for Managing Occupational Exposures to Zika

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently published Interim Guidance for Managing Occupational Exposures to Zika Virus for Healthcare Personnel on its website. This document provides guidance for facilities to determine when healthcare providers should be tested for Zika virus infection following an occupational exposure and recommendations for post-exposure management. The document does not, however, address all occupational healthcare that might be required, or the necessary evaluation or follow-up for occupational exposures to other infectious diseases (e.g., bloodborne pathogens). This guidance is not intended for laboratory researchers or laboratory research personnel. The recommendations will be updated as new information becomes available.

Other Zika resources can be on found CDC’s Zika webpages for healthcare providers: https://www.cdc.gov/zika/hc-providers/index.html

EPINet Sharps Injury and Blood and Body Fluid Data Reports

The International Safety Center’s Exposure Prevention Information Network (EPINet®) collects, analyzes, and reports occupational surveillance data for sharp object injuries (SOI), needlesticks, and blood and body fluid (BBF) (mucocutaneous) exposures.  The data is collected from a network of US healthcare systems and is reported in aggregate each year. The data provides extremely detailed information about the injuries and exposures so that facilities can utilize the information to create programs, campaigns, and interventions so these incidents can be prevented in the future.

Both SOI and BBF summary reports are available here: https://internationalsafetycenter.org/exposure-reports/

Hospital Respiratory Protection Resources and Practices

Do you have questions about when to use respiratory protection in clinical settings? Are you familiar with the 2015 resources from OSHA and The Joint Commission regarding respiratory protection programs? We would like to hear from you.

Please visit www.jointcommission.org/respiratoryprotection to provide us with your feedback.

The Joint Commission Department of Health Services Research is seeking this information as part of a collaborative research project supported through a contract with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), National Personal Protective Laboratory (NPPTL). Please note that all responses will be confidential and used only for research purposes. This project is unrelated to accreditation or certification activities.