Healthcare Safety Starter Kit - #HSSK-4

Workplace Bloodborne Pathogens for Healthcare

Workers in many different occupations are at risk of exposure to bloodborne pathogens. First aid team members, housekeeping personnel and healthcare workers are examples of workers who may be at risk of exposure.

Bloodborne pathogens are disease causing organisms that are present in blood. There are many bloodborne pathogens, but there are three of greatest concern to workers. These diseases are:

• HIV (AIDS)
• Hepatisis B
• Hepatitis C

The information covered in this program will instruct employees regarding:

• The contents of the OSHA Standard
• Bloodborne Diseases
• Preventing Occupational Exposure
• Personal Protective Equipment
• Procedures to follow
• Signs, labels & containers

HIPAA Privacy & Security Awareness

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (known as HIPAA) was enacted by Congress in 1996. HIPAA serves three main purposes:
• To protect people from losing their health insurance if they change jobs or have pre-existing
health conditions.
• To reduce the costs and administrative burdens of healthcare by creating standard electronic formats for many administrative transactions that were previously carried out on paper.
• To develop standards and requirements to protect the privacy and security of personal health information.
This program will provide some information on the basic HIPAA rules regarding the use, transmission, security and privacy of healthcare data.

Back Safety for Healthcare

This training program applies to healthcare employees whose job requires them to lift patients or other heavy objects. Lifting and moving patients is a large portion of the job tasks performed by healthcare workers and results in one of the highest back injury rates in the nation. Based upon recent statistics there are 67,000 back injuries each year among healthcare workers. These injuries total as much as $1.7 billion in workers’ compensation claims. In spite of this problem, many healthcare institutions have successfully prevented many back injuries.

Safety Orientation for Healthcare

In the healthcare field employees are the most important part of any safety program. You may come across unique and possibly fatal hazards everyday. This program will show you how to protect yourself from some of the most common hazards.

This program is not intended to give in-depth training about each subject but to be a brief orientation to some possible safety hazards. Your employer will provide more in-depth training on those safety hazards that you might encounter on a more frequent basis.

First, it is important that all employees keep alert to their surroundings for possible safety hazards. If you detect a safety hazard then you should take immediate steps to correct the problem.

This may include:
› Correcting the problem yourself; or
› Notifying your supervisor or other employee who can correct the problem.