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Dr. Mahesh Patel
Quality & Patient Safety Officer
Apollo Hospitals International Ltd.
Safe Employees… Safer
Hospital…
An
occupational hazard has been a long-standing concern
of the health care industry as well as employee
working in health care setup. According to the Bureau
of Labor statistics, U.S. hospitals recorded 2,53,700
work-related injuries and illnesses in 2011, which is
6.8 work-related injuries and illnesses for every 100
fulltime employees. The injury and illness rate in
hospitals is higher than the rates in construction and
manufacturing two industries that are traditionally
thought to be relatively hazardous. National Safety
Council (NSC) reports that hospital employees are 41%
more likely to need time off due to injury or illness
than employees in other industries.
Hospitals are large, organizationally complex, system
driven institutions employing large numbers of workers
from different professional streams. Hospitals are
potentially hazardous workplaces and employees are
exposed to a wide range of physical, chemical,
biological and psychological hazards. Due to
complexity in system and process, the chance of breach
in protocol or human error particularly while dealing
with hazards are very likely which may have grave
impact on human lives. Controlling and minimizing
workplace hazards for healthcare personnel in
hospitals present a unique challenge because the
health and wellbeing of hospital patients must also be
considered. Exposures to occupational hazards
throughout hospital departments are highly variable
and hence to create a safe working environment for
employee it is very crucial to understands and
practices
-
Identify the sources of
occupational hazard
-
Identify the adverse
health effects resulting from particular source
-
Identify & practices
appropriate measure to prevent / eliminate hazards
It is
very essential to have healthy, safe and motivated
workforce without that the public health goals of the
country cannot be met. |
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Major (Dr) Sanjay
Dalsania
Chief Quality Officer
Apollo Hospitals International Limited, Ahmedabad
Managing Risks To Make
The Hospitals Safer - For Healthcare Professionals
Healthcare is one of the fastest growing sectors of
the Indian economy, employing millions of workers.
Women represent a big portion of the healthcare force.
Considering the patient -centric & human-driven nature
of services, hospitals are not only unsafe for the
patients but also for the people who are working
therein. Healthcare delivery in any part of the world
is associated with a wide range of occupational
hazards. Healthcare professionals are equally
vulnerable to work related risks as compared to
employees of any other industries. Healthcare
professionals are exposed to several risks i.e.
hospital acquired infections, sharp injuries,
radiation injuries, burns, ergonomic issues, chemical
exposure, hospital accidents, stress etc. Amongst
these, many of them are due to medical devices used in
the hospitals. The severity of consequences may vary
from negligible to catastrophic wherein an employee
experiences a permanent harm or dies. Although it is
possible to prevent or reduce healthcare workers’
exposure to these hazards, healthcare workers continue
to experience injuries and illnesses in the
workplaces. Cases of non-fatal occupational injuries
and illnesses in healthcare workers are among the
highest of any industry sector.
In
spite of its very high incidences, the systematic
study and research on healthcare occupational risks
and prevention is still at the stage of infancy in
India. The hospital accreditation drive (NABH & JCI)
has played a key role in sensitizing hospitals about
the risk management concept in the recent years.
Moreover, the rapid rise in the incidence of
occupational hazards, avoidable mishaps, sentinel
events and litigations have also re-emphasised the
importance of the comprehensive risk management in
Indian hospitals.
The
primary aim of this paper/presentation is to improve
the current practices of identification, assessment,
prevention & mitigation of adverse occupational events
and associated risks in order to improve the overall
staff safety in healthcare setting. It mentions
various occupational (device related and unrelated)
risks which has potential negative impact, along with
a methodology to ascertain the likelihood
(probability), severity of consequences (safety
impact) and risk scoring of these risks. A
decision-support qualitative risk matrix thus made can
be used to anticipate and prevent/control various
healthcare occupational risks and to improve the
overall safety in the organization. |
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Mr. Sanjeev Rajput
Founder of Balaji Concepts, Vadodara
“Safety And Risk
Management Involved In ETO Sterilization & Effects Of
ETO On Environment And Their Solutions”
During
the course of carrying out their duties Doctors,
Nurses and other healthcare professionals especially
from surgical and cleaning department are exposed to
many health hazards related to use and handling of
various equipments, cleaning and
sterilizing of devices.
Improper sterilization of devices & surgical waste
management can lead to cause of severe infections. It
is very necessary to train the healthcare
professionals regarding use and handling the devices
and process involved so that they can work effectively
and safely.
It is
very important to take care of environment and health
of healthcare institutions also with the health of the
patients. We should know about environmental effect of
any device we are using. Also healthcare professionals
should know not only operating the device but also to
achieve the effective results from the device like ETO
Sterilizer. Healthcare professionals must know about
ETO Sterilization process, preparations before
sterilizations and safety precautions during the
process as well as the effects on environment and
their solutions. |
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Mr.
Sumit Marwah
CEO & Director
Dispoline India Private Limited & Dispoline Healthcare
Private Limited
“Don’t become the Patient” - Healthcare professionals.
The Way Forward.
These
are challenging times for Healthcare Professionals.
Infections are an area of concern especially with
newer, virulent and resistant strains of microbes
being found. A recent study commissioned by the PM of
UK has forecasted that Globally Anti Microbial
Resistance (AMR) will cause 10 million deaths and 100
Trillion $ in GDP loss. Hospital Acquired Infections (HAI)
are a big concern. We need to discuss THE WAY FORWARD
& also share and implement Best Practices, New
Concepts and Tools to PREVENT INFECTION. |