The American Holistic Nurses Association (AHNA) is creating a “Holistic Pain Relief Toolkit” to educate and support nurses in the use of evidence-based nonpharmacologic approaches in their nursing practice and self-care.
The toolkit will include educational content about essential oils, physical and energetic touch, thermal applications, progressive muscle relaxation, Meditation-Based Stress Reduction, visualization, yoga, tai chi and more, and will include:
Content for nurses to learn about these approaches.
Content for nurses to learn how to perform these approaches.
Sample policies and procedures for facilities.
The toolkit will be released in stages, and AHNA will offer both paper and digital versions.
The first “taste” of the toolkit is a two-page pdf that nurses can download, print and share freely with their peers.
Check out the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health’s (NIOSH’s) newly posted Health and Safety Practices Survey of Healthcare Workers, which focuses on aerosolized medications, anesthetic gases, antineoplastic drugs, chemical sterilants, high level disinfectants and surgical smoke. The information was collected through a web-based survey of healthcare personnel who work with hazardous chemicals. The objectives of the survey were to:
Better understand the circumstances to which healthcare workers may be exposed to hazardous chemicals.
Gauge how well best practices [i.e., engineering and administrative controls and personal protective equipment (PPE)] are being used to minimize exposure.
Evaluate barriers to using PPE and other exposure controls.
Other articles will be available later this summer, including exposure control practices for nitrous oxide in dental practices and effects of organizational safety practices and perceived safety climate on use of exposure controls involving liquid antineoplastic drugs among nurses.
Information provided by Denise Knoblauch, BSN, RN, COHN-S/CM and Elaine B. Dawson, RN, COHN
In 2016, 9,287 new tuberculosis (TB) cases were reported in the United States. This provisional count represents the lowest number of US TB cases on record and a 2.7% decrease from 2015. The 2016 TB incidence of 2.9 cases per 100,000 persons represents a slight decrease compared with 2015 (-3.4%). However, epidemiologic modeling demonstrates that if similar slow rates of decline continue, the goal of US TB elimination will not be reached during this century. Although current programs to identify and treat active TB disease must be maintained and strengthened, increased measures to identify and treat latent TB infection (LTBI) among populations at high risk are also needed to accelerate progress toward TB elimination.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has established an email notification system to provide recordkeeping reminders as well as updates on a new requirement that employers electronically submit their injury and illness logs to the agency. This year’s deadline is July 1, 2017. OSHA is not accepting electronic submissions at this time, but will notify interested parties when and how to provide electronic submissions. To receive these notifications, sign up online.
Do I need a new Data User Agreement (DUA) for tracking sharps injury and blood and body fluids (BBF) exposure? No. Current users already have a DUA in place.
Do I need a new Log on ID or new password? No. Your current ID and password will remain the same.
What do I need to do to begin tracking sharps injuries or BBF exposures? Log on to the OHSN system.
Click on “profiles”.
Click on “edit denominator data”.
Check the boxes for the injuries/exposures you would like to track. (Those you’ve been tracking should already be selected.)
Click “update denominator data”.
Once you’ve added these, upload your sharps/BBP data into OHSN. This can be done using EPINet (see User Manual page 9-60) or Microsoft Excel (please email NIOSHOHSN@cdc.gov to review how to do this). Please note: Excel requires mapping, whereas EPINet does not.
Can I use conversion tool 1.0 instead 2.0? If yes, what is the difference? Conversion tool 2.0 is required to track sharps injuries and BBF exposures, and it is recommended to be used for the traumatic injury events you may have already been tracking in OHSN. If you do not plan to add sharps injuries or BBF exposures, you can continue to use conversion tool 1.0 to track traumatic injuries (slips, trips and falls; patient handling injuries; and workplace violence injuries). However, the new version (2.0) provides updated information for traumatic injuries that you may find beneficial.
I use the NIOSH excel sheet to track traumatic injuries, which offers drop down menus to allow for easy recording and eliminates the need to do additional mapping. Will NIOSH offer this for tracking sharps injuries and BBF exposures? To begin tracking sharps injuries and/or BBF exposures, we recommend you use EPINet, which you can download for free on our web page. EPINet is a user friendly software for data entry and can be loaded directly into OHSN without having to map the data separately.
How many injuries and exposures must I track to participate in OHSN? You are not required to track sharps injuries or BBF exposures to continue to participate in OHSN. You can choose to track one or more.
If you have questions not addressed here, please email NIOSHOHSN@cdc.gov, or call 513-841-4337.
Begin Tracking Sharps Injuries and Blood and Body Fluid Exposures
OHSN will now allow you to track sharps injuries and blood and body fluid exposures, in addition to slips, trips and falls, patient handling injuries, and workplace violence injuries. If you are interested in learning how you can begin tracking one or both of these events, please see below “Questions and Answers: What to do next”.
2. Updated Conversion Tool The Conversion Tool was updated with new data elements (e.g. occupations and departments, etc.) and options (e.g. “fall from chair” as an option in slips, trips and falls; “ambulance” as an option for event location, etc.) The new additions are based on suggestions we’ve received from users to allow for more options when mapping your data. We greatly appreciate your feedback! You can upload Conversion Tool 2.0 here.
3. New SODA Document Our Standard Occupational Data Architecture (SODA 2.0) document was also updated, with additional data elements and options to serve as an improved resource during the mapping process. Please also note that we are able to assist with mapping, if needed.
5. Benchmarking Changes The system will no longer allow for direct comparisons of injury/exposure rates among OHSN participants. We plan to reengage this function when OHSN hospital participation grows to reflect the current distribution of hospitals within the United States.
Influence future improvement to the PPE-Info database. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has announced the availability of a draft web-based database called PPE-Info (https://wwwn.cdc.gov/ppeinfo) for public comment. The NIOSH National Personal Protective Technology Laboratory (NPPTL) developed the database in 2012, and we are requesting the public’s comments to help in updating our database.
OSHA’s Whistleblower Protection Programs has issued Recommended Practices for Anti-Retaliation Programs to help employers create workplaces in which workers feel comfortable voicing safety and other concerns without fear of retaliation. The recommendations, which are advisory only and create no new legal obligations, are intended to apply to all public and private sector employers covered by the 22 whistleblower protection laws that OSHA enforces.
The third edition of Aon’s biennial Health Care Workers’ Compensation Barometer report, which explores trends in frequency, severity and overall loss rates related to workers’ compensation in the healthcare industry, has been released. The report finds that, for the 2017 accident year, healthcare systems will face a complex environment of emerging risks that will have a direct impact on workers’ compensation.
Click here to visit the website to learn more and download the report.