Healthcare Workers
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Spotlight: Caring for Yourself While Caring for Others video
Caring for Yourself While Caring for Others is a NIOSH promotional video for home health workers. It provides a brief overview of the Caring for Yourself While Caring for Others
curriculum
. Healthcare is the fastest-growing sector of the U.S. economy, employing over 18 million workers. Women represent nearly 80% of the healthcare work force. Health care workers face a wide range of hazards on the job, including sharps injuries, harmful exposures to chemicals and hazardous drugs, back injuries, latex allergy, violence, and stress. Although it is possible to prevent or reduce healthcare worker exposure to these hazards, healthcare workers continue to experience injuries and illnesses in the workplace. Cases of nonfatal occupational injury and illness with healthcare workers are among the highest of any industry sector.
Workplace Violence Prevention for Nurses
The workplace violence prevention course is designed to give healthcare workers an opportunity to acquire free workplace violence prevention training while earning free continuing education units.
Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS)
MERS-coronavirus (MERS-CoV) is an emerging cause of viral respiratory illness, which is frequently very severe. It was first described in several countries in or near the Arabian Peninsula and in travelers returning from there. MERS has not spread in a sustained way in communities. Our understanding of MERS is still evolving.
MERS can be spread through close contact and has been transmitted from patients to healthcare workers. To aid providers and facilities, CDC has developed two checklists that identify key actions that can be taken now to enhance preparedness for MERS-CoV infection control.
CDC has developed comprehensive infection control recommendations . These include standard, contact, and airborne precautions. CDC recommends following standard procedures, per hospital policy and manufacturers' instructions, for cleaning and/or disinfection of environmental surfaces and equipment, textiles and laundry, and food utensils and dishware. CDC also provides lab biosafety guidelines for handling MERS-CoV specimens. On May 2, 2014, the first confirmed case of MERS-CoV was reported in a traveler to the United States.
NIOSHTIC-2 Search
NIOSHTIC-2 Search Results on Health Care Workers
NIOSHTIC-2 is a searchable bibliographic database of occupational safety and health publications, documents, grant reports, and journal articles supported in whole or in part by NIOSH.
Surveillance and Statistics
National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN)
Healthcare Personnel Safety Component
Workplace Solutions: Medical Surveillance for Health Care Workers Exposed to Hazardous Drugs
DHHS (NIOSH) Publication No. 2007-117 (April 2007)
Health care workers who handle, prepare, or administer hazardous drugs may face risks to their own health such as skin rashes, cancer, and reproductive disorders. NIOSH recommends that employers establish a medical surveillance program to protect workers who handle hazardous drugs in the workplace.
Worker Health eChartbook
The eChartbook is a descriptive epidemiologic reference on occupational morbidity and mortality in the United States. A web-based resource for agencies, organizations, employers, researchers, workers, and others who need to know about occupational injuries and illnesses, the eChartbook includes more than 8,000 figures and tables describing the magnitude, distribution, and trends of the Nation's occupational injuries, illnesses, and fatalities.
Work-Related Lung Disease (WoRLD) Surveillance System
Healthcare and Social Assistance Sector
- Page last reviewed: January 6, 2012
- Page last updated: July 27, 2016
- Content source:
- National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health Respiratory Health Division