All Entries Tagged With: "Infection control"
California nurses union calls off strike about H1N1
Last week, the California Nurses Union (CNU/NNOC) reached a dramatic settlement that prevented a nurse strike and will establish a national standard on containing the spread of pandemics such as H1N1, also known as the “swine flu.”
Originally set to strike on October 30—over the issue of protecting nurses from the H1N1 virus—CNU/NNOC called off the strike on Tuesday, October 27. The strike would have involved more than 13,000 registered nurses in 32 hospitals in the San Francisco-based Catholic Healthcare West (CHW) hospitals in California and Nevada.
The new agreement calls for the creation of a systemwide task force where CNA/NNOC RNs and hospital representatives will focus on the declaration of pandemic emergencies with the help of facility infection control teams. The task force will monitor the full implementation of federal, state, and local guidelines. They will also set up standards regarding checking the availability of proper safety equipment, communication and training policies for all hospital personnel, and consideration of off-site emergency triage and treatment.
Under the settlement, all CHW facilities need an employer agreement to comply with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and California Occupational Safety and Health Administration, along with those rules set in the CNA/NNOC contract. All CHW nurses will be provided the proper equipment and attire to prevent further spread of any virus, and facilities will provide each staff member with the proper training and information on communicable diseases to which they may have been exposed.
Forty-eight states have now reported widespread flu activity, and the death toll from the H1N1 virus in the United States has climbed to more than 1,000 cases, including more than 100 children. Thirty million doses of the vaccine have gone out to health departments, physician’s offices, and other providers, with hopes of delivering 120 million in the near future.
Does your facility provide staff members with education about pandemics? Do you think other states will follow California’s example? What are ways your facility helps prevent the spread of H1N1 virus?
To vaccine or not! The results are in…
In a recent poll question on StrategiesForNurseManages.com and StressedOutNurses.com readers were asked whether they were going to get an H1N1 vaccination.
The results are in, and 55% of SFNM.com readers said they planned to get the vaccine, as opposed to 45% who said they would not.
On the StressedOutNurses Web site, 52% of readers said they would be getting the vaccine, while 18% said they had not yet decided.
What do you plan to do? Post your comment and tell us if you’ve received your H1N1 vaccine or not!
H1N1 flu conditions have nurses’ union ready to strike
The California Nurses Association (CNA) announced on Monday that its members may participate in a one-day strike on October 30 due to concerns regarding healthcare organizations’ inadequate safety precautions regarding the H1N1 pandemic. The strike would involve more than 16,000 registered nurses at more than 30 hospitals, targeting three large California hospital chains.
The CNA says nurses are concerned about safety preparations to protect patients, families, and healthcare workers during an H1N1 pandemic. Specific areas of concern include isolating patients with symptoms to prevent contagion and adequate supplies of fit-tested N95 respirators.
The CNA also wants California hospitals to adopt guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Occupational Safety and Health Administration. They say this would ensure that all hospitals in the California area meet the highest safety measures demanded and that they be uniform throughout the state.
Interactive Web site helps determine when flu symptoms are serious and when to seek help
Trying to decide whether that cough and on and off fever is something you should go see your doctor about? Debating to wait in the crowded Emergency Room for hours to see if you have swine flu? Well, what if you could determine the severity of your symptoms and whether a visit to the doctor is necessary, without ever leaving the comfort of your own home.
Microsoft has launched an interactive Web site; H1N1 Response Center, that will help determine just that. Using an assessment tool licensed by Emory University, the Web site aims to help consumers’ determine whether or not their symptoms are consistent with the H1N1 virus and if they should seek medical help. [more]
Mandatory H1N1 flu vaccination causes controversy
The first doses of the H1N1 vaccination have officially arrived in the United States and a nurse was one of the first to receive the vaccine. Holly Smith is a pediatric nurse at Le Bonheur Children’s Medical Center, in Memphis, TN, and mother of two children. Smith reported that she chose to be vaccinated for the sake of her kids, as well as for the children she works with.
Le Bonheur has seen numerous cases of H1N1 since late August and received 100 doses of nasal spray vaccine. The vaccines were given to healthcare workers in an outdoor tent set up to treat children with flu symptoms and keep them separate from other patients.
Public health authorities in 21 other states and four large cities, Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, and Washington, DC, have been shipped the swine flu vaccination, roughly totaling 600,000 doses.
As vaccines are shipped around the country, many hospitals, university health systems, and even some states are requiring that all healthcare workers receive the H1N1 flu vaccine, or either spend the flu season wearing a mask or risk losing their job.
Pandemic preparation: How to prepare for swine flu
As the fall and winter months approach, hospitals are gearing up for more than the average flu season. Officials are predicting that the outbreak of the H1N1 virus, or swine flu, will hit the country much harder than in the spring and that as many as half the population may become infected.
The Washington Post reports the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology has warned that as many as 1.8 million people could be hospitalized by the H1N1 virus, causing as many as 90,000 deaths. The 86-page report offers guidance on the nation’s response to the first influenza pandemic in 41 years. [more]
Remind nurses to watch for CAUTI risk factors
Healthcare facilities are placing ever more attention on reducing incidence of catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI) now that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has placed them on the non-pay list as preventable hospital-acquired conditions.
Encouraging nurses to recognize patients who are at risk of developing CAUTIs can help your prevention efforts. The following populations have increased risk factors for developing CAUTIs:
- Gender (e.g., women are more likely to have UTIs than men)
- Advanced age
- History of urinary tract problems (e.g., enlarged prostate or urologic surgery)
- Neurologic conditions (e.g., spinal cord injury) causing neurogenic bladder problems
- Previous UTIs
- Previous and/or current abnormal voiding patterns
- Current catheter history
- Incontinence
- Comorbid conditions such as diabetes
- Immunosuppression
What other strategies are you using to combat CAUTIs?
MRSA me, what are we to do?
By Sheila Gerald, RN, CIC, CLNC
The average person trembles with fear when he or she hears the word staph or MRSA, and most healthcare workers are sick of multiple drug resistant organisms (MDROs) making their daily service more challenging.
Many infection control experts will agree that MDROs have rocked our world for the past 10 years in dramatic ways. We now have to use resources for increased compliance monitoring, surveillance, and tracking. And let’s not forget about the increased need for education. How many times must we say “gel in-gel out,” “glove/gown each time,” only to get those phone calls over and over reporting it not being done?
I have a question: Why haven’t hospitals addressed this problem? Why not simply tell the public, “No, you can’t bring that child in to visit,” “No, you can’t go in the room without a gown/glove/mask,” “No, you can’t come in if you are sick,” and “No, we won’t do your surgery until you have your blood sugar under control, have lost weight, and have stopped smoking,” which all increase the risk of a poor outcome. Can you imagine the outcry from the public if we put our foot down, instead of catering to the general public’s desire to be in control?
Would we truly see some dramatic improvements if the Healthcare Infection Control Practice Advisory Committee (HICPAC) came out with stern guidelines making contact precautions the new standard precautions? After all, when you start checking for colonization you wind up putting the majority of people who are admitted under the contact precautions umbrella. How much would we save in resources if we just put all admitted patients in precautions and forego the screening? Yes, the studies have shown these people get seen less often, but what if it became the norm to gown and glove upon entry to every room and continue the hand hygiene before and after contact with the environment of care?
I think it is time to change our norm and stop whining and moaning about it. Our germ cheese has been moved and we have hemmed and hawed long enough! If we are to survive and if we expect our patients to survive this germ war, we must change the way we practice healthcare.
How do you feel about current infection control practices? What changes would you make?
Be wary of Crocs
An interesting take on Crocs from the pages of our Briefings on Infection Control newsletter:
Crocs-the popular and colorful rubber shoes-serve as convenient, comfortable clog-type footwear in healthcare settings. However, while they might make the workday go easier, Crocs also pose an infection control risk with their multiple ventilation holes and open backs, says Terry Jo Gile, MT (ASCP), MA Ed.
“That’s not allowed in a clinical lab,” she adds, noting that some hospitals had for a time allowed OR nurses to wear them.
Shoes must adequately cover the foot, must not be made of canvas, and must not be of an open or sandal design, according to National Committee on Clinical Laboratory Standards Guideline GP17-A2.
“OSHA says no, too, because you can get sprays and splashes in the holes and in the backs,” Gile says.
Her stance stems from the general provisions of the bloodborne pathogens standards, which doesn’t specifically note Crocs. However, an informal opinion from OSHA in 2006 indicated that Crocs would be inappropriate in hospital settings where one might reasonably expect drops of blood or other potentially infectious materials to land on an employee’s feet.
Moreover, Gile says, in lab environments, there’s not only the risk of infectious body fluids exposure to the feet, but a risk of chemical splashes and sharp injuries as well. Yet few labs have written dress-code policies to prohibit Crocs.
What’s your view on Crocs? Do they have a place in the healthcare setting?
