N
urses
con-
tinue
to
have
the highest job-related injury rates of any occupation. Surgical nurses?
You could argue that they deserve hazard pay. Take a look around
your ORs at all the injuries just waiting to happen. A partial list from
the ground up: cords to trip on and bodily fluids to slip on. Then
there's surgical smoke and waste anesthetic gases to breathe in. The
slice of a scalpel, the prick of a needle or the splash of blood can
expose staff to a number of diseases, including HIV and hepatitis.
Their backs take a beating from handling heavy patients and being on
their feet for hours on end, much of the time hunched over operating
tables.
Are you doing all you can to protect your employees? "As a manag-
er, you have the ultimate responsibility to ensure their safety," says
David Kasprzak, RN, MSc RNFA, former director of surgical services
at Easton (Pa.) Hospital. "You have to put your foot down and take a
stand, taking whatever measures are necessary to be sure you main-
tain a safe environment."
8 0 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E • D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 6
Keep Your Employees Free From
Harm
A number of hazards
are lurking in your
operating rooms.
Dan O'Connor
Editor-in-Chief
• WORKPLACE DANGER The OR
floor is a tripping and slipping hazard.
Pamela
Bevelhymer,
RN,
BSN