Safety Tips for Healthcare Professionals
Healthcare workers and employees face numerous safety risks and hazards from the minute they walk into a medical facility. Work-related infections and injuries are the highest among those in the healthcare industry—even higher than those in the construction or manufacturing industry.
Medical personnel and facility staff have a legal right to a safe and healthy work environment; one that employers must provide to them with best practices and regulations. If your practice or facility needs some basic safety advice, closely examine the following safety tips for healthcare professionals.
Be Mindfully Aware When Handling Sharps
Employees must be mindful during their workday tasks—tasks that can include a variety of dangerous factors. If healthcare professionals are exposed to sharp materials such as scalpels, needles, or other razor-sharp objects, proper care-handling and disposal must be followed. Additionally, as these objects can contain infectious diseases, caution is heavily required to reduce contamination risks.
Many healthcare facilities have already reduced the usage of needles with alternative hands-free means, but the best practices to reduce sharps hazards still need to be adhered to. These safety practices include the immediate disposal of syringes into a safety box, no recapping of needles, and the use of blunt needles, blunt blades, and gloves when necessary to avoid contact with sharp materials.
Utilize Proper Devices To Reduce Injury Risk
One of the top safety tips for healthcare professionals to follow is the utilization of the right devices throughout their daily tasking. Injuries are common with occupational healthcare staff who are in contact with immobile patients and often need to lift, transfer, or move them around. If healthcare workers do not use assistive devices such as slings, slides, or digital hoists, or follow the correct lifting techniques, they can become hurt. Bone fragment, muscle, ligament, tendon, nerve, and cartilage injuries tend to occur and cause numerous ergonomic and musculoskeletal disorders.
Avoid Contact With Bloodborne Pathogens
Healthcare workers can come into contact with their patient’s bodily liquids—blood and urine most commonly. For this reason, these workers must be properly prepared and take the necessary precautions before they encounter patients. Healthcare professionals should wear personal protective equipment such as face shields, safety masks, safety goggles, gloves, and gowns to prevent contamination of bacterial and viral infections from sick or ill patients.
Safety in the healthcare industry is a two-way street. Management of exposure is crucial to keep healthcare professionals as well as their patients safe. For staff that works in the medical field, we’ve got the right gear to assist in your everyday operations. At American Screening, we’re the number one supplier for medical personal protective equipment. Our medical PPE is of high quality to ensure safety and protection with full head-to-toe coverage against hazardous chemicals, particles, liquids, and more. Check out our medical workwear and clothing selection today.