The COVID-19 pandemic has had a lasting impact on healthcare, and its burden on the medical system and healthcare workers (HCW) has led to negative patient safety consequences. Numerous publications have detailed how the pandemic has alarmingly eroded our decade of former progress in reducing...
For me, corn is nothing new. I like it, but I don’t get excited about it, and when it is on my plate I don’t pay it much attention. The laboratory can be like that for staff members who work there every day. It’s nothing new, it’s just where they work, and they stop paying attention to it.
During new lab employee orientation, safety training should be one of the first items, and it should include information about fire prevention and preparedness. Orient the new staff to the layout of the department. Show them the exits and the designated evacuation meeting location.
Contaminated hands are a primary vehicle in transmitting germs and viruses, which means hand hygiene remains imperative to protect patients, staff, and visitors. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, hand hygiene is one of the most effective tools to mitigate the impact of...
During new lab employee orientation, safety training should be one of the first items, and it should include information about fire prevention and preparedness. Orient the new staff to the layout of the department. Show them the exits and the designated evacuation meeting location.
Summer is officially over, and the clocks will fall back an hour in a month. It’s a time of transition as people bring out their fall clothes, enjoy spiced drinks, and ready themselves for colder weather and longer nights. It’s also time for your laboratory and staff to make the needed safety...
Healthcare Life Safety Compliance - Volume 25, Issue 9
Nothing like the last month of summer to clean out the files in the arena of life safety compliance and healthcare security.
Without further ado, here’s a compilation of some news and advice for practitioners in the space as we close out another summer and look forward to the final...
There is a new “pox” on lab safety—monkeypox. Like the most recent novel virus (COVID-19), the unknowns about the monkeypox virus are creating new safety concerns for laboratorians, and it is now time to nip unnecessary fears in the bud. Safety leaders can accomplish this through preparation and...
In a Q&A, Dan Scungio, MT(ASCP), SLS, laboratory safety officer for multihospital system Sentara Healthcare in Virginia, discusses lab safety and the handling of monkeypox specimens.
