INJURY PREVENTION - Research Paper Example

Statement of the problem and significance of the problem According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, health workers face various injuries in the course of their work. These injuries include needlestick injuries, back injuries, latex allergies, violence, and stress. The rates of these work-related injuries have been increasing throughout the years and “by contrast, two of the most hazardous industries, agriculture and construction, are safer today than they were a decade ago” (CDC, 2011).

According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (n.d) healthcare workers face potential sources of injuries in the clinical areas through bloodborne pathogens, airborne pathogens, ergonomic injuries, slips, trips, falls, and through sharps; in the surgical suites through anesthetic gases, bloodborne pathogens, compressed gases, lasers, and latex; in radiology through radiation, airborne pathogens, and bloodborne pathogens as well; in physical therapy through ergonomics, slips, trips, and falls, through equipment hazards, and bloodborne pathogens; in the pharmacy through latex, drug absorption, and through slips and falls; and in central supply through compressed gases, anesthetic agents, chemical agents, ergonomics, and through burns and cuts.

These injuries are sources of significant concern within and outside the health care practice because the appropriate safety precautions must be laid out in order to protect the welfare of all health care workers. Based on the above scenario, this paper now seeks to answer: What are the appropriate programs which need to be implemented to prevent and control the occurrence of the above health care injuries? Monitoring, Detection, Diagnosis of the injury problem In monitoring, detecting, and diagnosing of injuries in the workplace, it is important to observe the activities of healthcare workers.

The monitoring of activities can be carried out by observing how the healthcare workers carry out their activities. In observing their activities, it is possible to observe how well these workers comply with the standard precautions of safety. By observing the workers, it is possible to see if they are practicing ergonomics while carrying, transferring and moving patients or while implementing interventions for the patient. The use of gloves, masks, gowns, and other personal protective equipment must be assessed.

Evaluating whether or not workers use this protective equipment would determine the presence or absence of risks on the worker’s life. Regular tests of chemical levels and other toxic elements on a worker’s system would also help establish the extent of injury posed on the worker’s life. Radiation strips worn by workers would also help monitor the radiation exposure levels for the workers exposed to radiation and other toxic chemicals. Past and existing studies Various studies have been carried out on the subject matter.

These studies have expressed that each year about 385,000 health care workers in hospitals are exposed to bloodborne pathogens, caused mostly by inadvertent needlestick and sharps injuries (National Public Health, 2011). In assessing the risk for injuries, determinants include: overuse of injections and unnecessary sharps, lack of supplies; lack of access to sharps containers; inadequate staffing; recapping of needles after use; lack of engineering controls; lack of awareness