I was walking in the park two days ago and I felt something while cleaning up after my dog. I found a hypodermic needle. I don't know how old the needle was it could have been under the snow for the whole winter. The needle was definitely out there for at least a couple of days, it was broken and bent. The E.R. doctor prescribed combivir as a human Immunodeficiency Virus prophylactic. The side effects are miserable, I felt like I had the flu. Anonymous
www.morningsidebarc.org
An estimated nine million people in the United States use more than three billion needles. These needles and syringes are used by diabetics, hemophiliacs, infertility patients and allergy sufferers to manage medical conditions at home. Some sharps users throw used needles in the trash or flush then down the toilet. This population of self-injecting individuals continues to grow each year. The majority of these needles are being disposed of in household trash. Used sharps left loose among other waste can hurt sanitation workers during collection rounds, at sorting and recycling facilities and at landfills. But it is not only sanitation management workers that are at risk. Improperly discarded needles and other sharps put a variety of other individuals at risk including policemen and firemen, ambulance personnel, janitorial and custodial workers, laundry and dry-cleaning facilities, hotels, park and recreation employees. The number of needle- sticks in the waste industry is very difficult to track. Waste companies are required by law to report injuries in Occupational Safety and Health Administration 300 logs, but due to the nature of this business, many workers may not even be aware they have been stuck. Waste workers are lifting, ...
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Shahan, Zachery. (October 25, 2010). “Environmental Sticking Point – Used Needle and Syringe Disposal.”
Retrieved April 12, 2011 from the website: http://planetsave.com/2010/10/25/environmental-sticking-point-%e2%80%93-used-needle-and-syringe-disposal/
Stoker, Ron. (October 2004). “Managing Diabetes Without Jabbing Anyone Else.” Retrieved April 12, 2011
from Managing Infection Control article. www.isips.org/reports/Articles/MIC1004p14t.pdf
Weinrich, R. (May 2, 2007). “Removing the needles from trash — a necessary effort.” Retrieved April 12, 2011
from Endocrine Today website: http://endocrinetoday.com/view.aspx?rid=24069
Www.morningsidebarc.org. (n.d.). “Morning Side Build A Run Coalition.” Retrieved April 12, 2011 from the
website: http://www.morningsidebarc.org/i-got-pricked-by-a-discarded-syringe.html.
By providing clean needles to drug addicts, are we causing another issue such as increased drug
One study evaluates the gloving procedure in the health care field in relation to virus transfer (Casanova, 2012). After the worldwide SARS outbreak, the CDC proposed a re-evaluation of PPE protocols to minimize patient exposure to infections. Casanova’s group states that CDC’s proposed protocol was “not empirically validated.” They suggest using model systems to develop this data. A previous study using a model system is cited and Casanova suggests alternatives to CDC’s protocol derived from the cited study. “One such alternative is double-gloving… When removing PPE, the outer pair of gloves is removed first, followed by the rest of the PPE items, and the inner pair of gloves is removed last” (Casanova, 2012). Casanova’s group used the model system to evaluate the viability of this double-gloving procedure. This study concluded that double-gloving does decrease the risk of disease transmission and suggests incorporating this into PPE procedures for health care workers.
On the back of my drivers license there is a box which will allow me to donate organs if I wish to do so. Upon first receiving my license I didn’t know whether to sign it or where I could find three witnesses to watch me sign. Modern science is allowing people to live longer than ever before, and transplanting failed organs is another method to preserve our frail lives. The problem with human organ transplantation is there is never enough supply to meet the high demand. With organ transplants being a problem in our society, the diminishing rain forest is another pressing issue. It has been estimated that our rain forests could disappear within 40 years at our current logging rate (Raintree, 2004). The reason we were always told to recycle and ‘save a tree’ is because the rain forests provide our breathing air. The rain forests provide a home for many animals and removing the animals from their home will cause extinction. In the novel The Organ Grinders, Paul Symon the main character, observes the apparent problem that exists in rain forest depletion and with organ transplantation. With a few significant changes, the damage done by these technologies can be minimized and life be treasured.
Certified Nurse Assistants (CNAs) are caregivers that work close to the elderly patients, also called residents. The CNAs are responsible for taking viral signs and helping the residents with activities of the daily living, such as: bathing, walking, eating, toileting, dressing and transferring. Taking care of patients that are not able to perform common tasks, like using the bathroom, can be difficult. For that reason, a great number of CNAs get injured in their work setting every year. In order to minimize the risk of work-related injured inside long-term care facilities, the facility should impose a non-lift policy and increase the use of lift machines, such as hoyers.
The author, Lars Eighner explains in his informative narrative, “On Dumpster Diving” the lifestyle of living out of a dumpster. Eighner describes the necessary steps to effectively scavenge through dumpsters based on his own anecdotes as he began dumpster diving a year before he became homeless. The lessons he learned from being a dumpster diver was in being complacent to only grab what he needs and not what he wants, because in the end all those things will go to waste. Eighner shares his ideas mainly towards two direct audiences. One of them is directed to people who are dumpster divers themselves, and the other, to individuals who are unaware of how much trash we throw away and waste. However, the author does more than direct how much trash
OSHA regulations give full disclosure to employees about workplace hazards. Businesses that produce or import chemicals of any sort must review the dangers associated with these chemicals and have them labeled accordingly. They must also prepare material safety data sheets to go with any delivered chemicals. This will describe technical information as well as hazardous effects from exposure and the appropriate protective measures. Any employees wh...
Eighner writes, “Long before I began Dumpster diving I was impressed with Dumpsters, enough so that I wrote the Merriam research service to discover what I could about the world “Dumpster”. I learned from them that “Dumpster” is a proprietary word belonging to the Dempsey Dumpster company.” He was so fascinated with Dumpsters, that he learned the definition, which is a fact. A definition can be adjusted; however, it is not completely revised. Definitions are definite. Eighner states, “Eating from the Dumpsters involves three principles: using the senses and common sense to evaluate the condition of the found materials, knowing the Dumpsters of a given area and checking them regularly, and seeking always to answer the question, ‘Why was this discarded?’” He uses his senses to analyze the condition of the things he finds logically. Dumpster diving requires the ability to critically think about what can and can not be eaten. Eighner writes, “Although very rare with modern canning methods, botulism is a possibility. But botulism is almost certainly fatal and often the first symptom is death.” He uses knowledge to understand what the expectations of some foods, especially canned foods, should be. While Eighner uses all three persuasive appeals in his writing, ethos is the most
Retained foreign objects have been a major problem throughout operating rooms, labor and delivery, as well as any other procedural area that perform invasive procedures. Retained foreign objects include soft goods, such as sponges, needles, sharps, instruments and other small miscellaneous items used during a procedure (NoThing Left Behind, 2013). The retention of these items can lead to several complications such as a local tissue reactions, infection, obstruction of blood vessels, and even death (Mathias, 2013, p. 2) According to the OR Manager, the effects of a retained surgical item can lead to patients having a increased mortality rate by 2.14%, an increased hospital stay by 2.08 days, and increased hospital costs by $13,315 (Mathias, 2013, p.1). In response to this, NoThing Left Behind was created. NoThing Left Behind is a national surgical safety project that was created as a system wide policy to help prevent the event of a retained surgical item (RSI). This project estimates that there are 1500-2000 retained surgical items left in patients each year within the United States (NoThing Left Behind, 2013). Furthermore, evidence shows that there has been an increase in retained foreign objects left within patients that undergo invasive procedures that occur outside of the operating room and labor and delivery. Therefore, the focus of this paper is to analyze the negative impact, physically, emotionally, and financially, on patients as well as the hospital, related to retained foreign objects during an invasive procedure. The focus is on areas such as the catheterization lab, endoscopy, emergency room, and other bedside procedures where there is no accounting process in place.
Safety is a primary concern in the health care environment, but there are still many preventable errors that occur. In fact, a study from ProPublica in 2013 found that between 210,000 and 440,000 patients each year suffer preventable harm in the hospital (Allen, 2013). Safety in the healthcare environment is not only keeping the patient safe, but also the employee. If a nurse does not follow procedure, they could bring harm to themselves, the patient, or both. Although it seems like such a simple topic with a simple solution, there are several components to what safety really entails. Health care professionals must always be cautious to prevent any mishaps to their patients, especially when using machines or lifting objects, as it has a higher
Currently needle and syringe exchange programs are not federally funded or supported in the United States, even though the support is growing. Generally speaking, the implementation of such programs is difficult based on the social rejection of the people the services would benefit, and the legal funding restrictions. Nevertheless, the National Institute of Health identified six characteristics of successful syringe exchange programs implementation (Downing et.al 2014). First off, the debate needs to be set in a way that is considerate of both the political and cultural norms; also, the effort needs to involve community building and involvement. Third, there needs to be sufficient leadership; and easily accessible resources; and use of research finding and supporting evidence of the programs; and lastly, the implementation process must ignore any fear of social or political hostility (Downing et.al 2014). While as a nation we have a long way to go, I think the potential for successfully implementing federally funded needle and/or syringe exchange programs, or other similar programs devoted to harm-reduction and risk-prevention, are just around the political and social corner of reforming the view on drugs.
Fierce healthcare reported sometime in June of 2012 that hospitals across the country had received safety report cards from one Leapfrog group. They reported that most facilities got a C or below in the rankings. The report also showed that the biggest hospitals such as the Henry Ford Hospital in Michigan barely got a passing grade. The report cards were meant to inform patients and also to motivate improvements in patient safety, they were faced with a lot of criticism and controversy especially from hospitals that did not pass. This paper will discuss the controversy facing patient safety in the U.S. It will also analyze the effects of the issue and the solutions suggested and currently in place to solve the issue.
In rare occurrences workplace injury leads to death while the majority of injuries are minor. The national OHS strategy 2002-2012 by the Australian government has set a target to reduce fatality rate by 20% over the decade. The data from Safe Work Australia statistical report 2009-2010, shows a 10% decrease over 5 years to 2008, an increase in 2009 and a decrease in 2010 (Graph 1). The increase in 2008-2009 was among 15-24 years age group with 95% being male workers.
She suggests that Americans should reduce their overconsumption of such commodities since they are overburdening the non-biodegradable waste load in the garbage collection facilities. It is surprising to note that every Americans disposes more than four pounds of trash on a daily basis (Royte, 2005).
Patient safety must be the first priority in the health care system, and it is widely accepta-ble that unnecessary harm to a patient must be controlled.Two million babies and mother die due to preventable medical errors annually worldwide due to pregnancy related complications and there is worldwide increase in nosocomial infections, which is almost equal to 5-10% of total admissions occurring in the hospitals. (WHO Patient Safety Research, 2009). Total 1.4 million patients are victims of hospital-acquired infection. (WHO Patient Safety Research, 2009). Unsafe infection practice leads to 1.3 million death word wide and loss of 26 millions of life while ad-verse drug events are increasing in health care and 10% of total admitted patients are facing ad-verse drug events. (WHO Patient Safety Re...
-To assess the current management of medical waste in terms of collection, storage, transportation and final disposal.