Yes, this is a story about errors – plural -- made by one person, me. I’m not going to beat myself up here. James Reason, professor emeritus at the University of Manchester (UK), and one of the seminal authorities on human error, reminds us that most errors are caused by good, competent people who are trying to do the right thing.
A safe patient-handling intervention decreased injuries among nurses, but not among lower-wage workers employed as patient care associates, according to a recent study in the American Journal of Public Health.
This study at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health compared self-reports of safe patient-handling practices and hospital injury rates at two large Boston area hospitals from 2012 to 2014.
Millions of patients are harmed each year due to unsafe health care worldwide, resulting in 2.6 million deaths annually in low-and middle-income countries alone. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), most of these deaths are avoidable. The personal, social and economic impact of patient harm leads to losses of trillions of U.S. dollars worldwide.
Several incidents in which law enforcement officers suddenly experienced health problems after being exposed to opioids and other drugs while on the job sent up an alarm among first responders nationwide. With the opioid epidemic in the U.S. showing few signs of abating, agencies turned to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) for help in preventing such exposures going forward.
Taking one daily pill that combined medications to treat high blood pressure and high cholesterol lowered heart disease risk among underserved patients is better than taking several separate medications to treat these risk factors, according to new research published in the New England Journal of Medicine and funded by the American Heart Association (AHA).
A controversial rule issued by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to increase line speeds and reduce government inspections at U.S. hog slaughterhouses will lead to increased workplace injuries and a greater risk of foodborne illness, says the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health (National COSH).
Two recent studies by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) are shedding light on how to prevent work-related asthma by controlling exposure to hazardous substances. Work-related asthma can occur when workplace exposure to a hazardous substance triggers symptoms in someone with asthma or causes new asthma to occur in someone who doesn’t already have it.
Revisions to the standard that guides implementation of safety and health management systems - ANSI/ASSP Z10.0-2019 – have been approved by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI).
Safety and health management systems set an operational foundation by ensuring that critical processes are integrated, which helps organizations reduce injuries, save lives and maximize financial performance.
A new injury has emerged in this, the digital era: “selfie wrist.”
There is no shortage of enthusiastic selfie takers these days, especially among young people, who repeatedly aim their cell phones at themselves in order to visually document their activities, friends and special locations they visit.
Sometimes bacteria can transfer in less than a second
September 19, 2019
Turns out bacteria may transfer to candy that has fallen on the floor no matter how fast you pick it up.
Rutgers researchers have disproven the widely accepted notion that it’s okay to scoop up food and eat it within a “safe” five-second window. Donald Schaffner, professor and extension specialist in food science, found that moisture, type of surface and contact time all contribute to cross-contamination.