We all know that doctors and nurses work long hours under trying conditions, particularly in hospital emergency rooms, to save lives and bring healing and comfort to the sick. What too many people do not know is that healthcare workers face a potential silent killer every day that is so common it is routinely overlooked and ignored: accidental needlesticks. Every year in the United States, more than 400 million blood draws are performed. Some of […]
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Healthcare workers face unique occupational hazards. In what other field can an employee so readily experience burnout, chemical exposure, and sharps injuries that introduce pathogens to the body? Now, a new study has further bolstered the list of healthcare workers’ concerns, suggesting that medical waste handlers are at increased risk of hepatitis B virus (HBV). Recently published in the American Journal of Infection Control, the meta-analysis of 9 cross-sectional studies found that although just […]
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As the decade winds down, it’s hard to believe that the HIPAA Privacy and Security Rules are almost twenty years old. It has been ten years since the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) published the first breach notification rule – the one based on the harm standard. And the Omnibus Rule’s “low probability of compromise” standard is almost seven years old! Regulators and regulated entities are heading […]
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