It is ironic that those whose job it is to save lives often find themselves injured in the course of performing their duties. In fact, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, healthcare workers have higher injury rates than agriculture workers, miners, and construction workers. The Handbook of Modern Hospital Safety, Second Edition covers exposure paradigms and offers solutions and models of protection for these individuals, presenting the latest science and intervention strategies that have proven successful in the scientific community. Extensively revised, this second edition explores a host of hazardous conditions that are faced by healthcare workers in today's hospitals, including: * infection and infectious diseases * back injuries * needlesticks * workplace violence * slip, trip, and fall injuries * ergonomic issues * electrocautery smoke * toxic drugs * ethylene oxide * aldehydes * pentamidine * ribavirin In this long-awaited update to William Charney's seminal work, experts from leading hospitals, universities, and health organizations explore these health risks and suggested preventive measures, discuss recent research and new information on technology to protect workers, cover new legislation and regulations, and provide insight into the philosophy of creating a safe hospital culture.

Medical error as defined in Epidemic of Medical Errors and Hospital-Acquired Infections: Systemic and Social Causes encompasses many categories including, but not limited to, medical error, hospital-acquired infections, medication errors, deaths from misdiagnosis, deaths from infectious diarrhea in nursing homes, surgical and post-operative complications, lethal blood clots in veins, and excessive radiation from CT scans. When the deaths from these categories are counted they become the leading cause of fatality to Americans, outpacing cancer and heart disease. Add the numbers of fatalities (mortality) to the millions each year who are injured (morbidity) and whose quality of life is forever effected, and an epidemic of harm is defined. The book describes the many systemic and social causes of medical error and iatrogenic events, all of which are cited in the peer-review science, that have a direct effect on the epidemic of patient injury, but are rarely or never considered. These systemic causes include factory medicine (for-profit medicine), staffing ratios in clinical and non-clinical departments, shift work, healthcare working conditions, lack of accountability, legal issues that conflict with patient safety issues, bullying and hierarchical relationships, training of healthcare workers that never rises to the level of risk, and injury to healthcare workers. The premise of the book is that if the systemic or social causes are not considered or changed, then medical error will continue to be an epidemic and no substantial impact in the numbers will be realized. An expert with 30 years of experience as a health and safety officer in healthcare and as an activist for community health and safety issues, editor and author William Charney explores the issues surrounding medical errors and examines the science behind possible solutions. He presents an efficient dialogue that produces a more systemic exploration and targeting of the causes of medical error and drives an exacting message: we are dealing with an epidemic of harm, and unless systemic issues are solved, little will change to subdue the epidemic. Information on the June 2012 Conference on the Epidemic of Medical Errors & Hospital Acquired Infections in the US and Canada: the Systemic Causes can be found on the CRC Press Issuu page.

Recently the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics calculated nearly 60,000 musculoskeletal injuries to healthcare workers resulting from heavy lifting during attempts to move patients. Often the nurses, aides, orderlies, and attendants who suffered permanent injuries were forced out of the profession, straining an already inadequate pool of workers and wasting valuable knowledge and ability.

Back Injury Among Healthcare Workers: Causes, Solutions, and Impacts presents the latest research on this topic from an epidemiological point of view. The book highlights case studies from actual injured workers, along with analysis of how this problem is being addressed around the world.

This in-depth study also discusses the legal and rehabilitative obstacles to returning to work, and suggests new policies for the safe lifting and moving of patients. The editors compile recommended solutions from leading names in the field, detailing how healthcare facilities can create safe work environments to prevent disabling back injuries.

Hospitals in the US and Canada are ill-prepared for the threat of emerging infectious diseases, especially in the area of protecting healthcare workers, nurses, doctors, and first responders from transmissions. Current protocols from guideline agencies and health organizations and health departments that include state pandemic flu plans do not follow scientific evidence in many of their recommendations.

Economics and 'ease of use' are trumping good science in the decision making process. For example, protocols do not demand the most stringent precautions that would protect for healthcare workers from unknown factors of transmission in the case of rapidly emerging diseases. Respiratory protection, negative pressure isolation rooms, training of healthcare workers, personal protective equipment, ventilation designs, triage of surge patients, funding issues are all areas of concern that remain controversial in current occupational health protection models.

Emerging Infectious Diseases and the Threat to Occupational Health in the US and Canada offers a critical review of existing plans and infrastructures for emerging diseases and the response capabilities of healthcare delivery systems to protect the occupational health and offers many solutions. The authors perform failure analysis that cannot be found in other texts, and offer positive solutions, strategies, and tactics for strengthening the hospital and the public health response to potentially catastrophic health crises. This book contains invaluable information for managers, professionals, and policy makers in infectious disease organizations, public health organizations, as well as occupational health organizations.