In 2023, the National Center for Health Statistics’ National Health Interview Survey reported that 24.3% of adults had chronic pain and 8.5% of adults had high-impact chronic pain. These patients require careful pain management regimens.
Regular trash is bad enough, but the things that laboratories throw out are dangerous as well as egregious: used needles and sharps, body fluids, caustic chemicals, and items that will burst into flames in the right conditions. Lab staff can be injured by improper disposal of chemical waste, but...
A couple of weeks ago, I was charged with picking up a prescription for my mother-in-law at a chain pharmacy. I dutifully picked up the ‘script and headed home. When we opened the bag, my wife and I observed that while there was some paperwork attached to the bag, the pill container inside the...
In this guest column, Dan Scungio, MT(ASCP), SLS, laboratory safety officer for multihospital system Sentara Healthcare in Virginia, and otherwise known as “Dan, the Lab Safety Man,” discusses the important issues that affect your job every day. Today he discussed emergency preparedness.
Healthcare providers often find themselves on the receiving end of verbal, emotional, or physical abuse at work. Despite making up only 10% of the workforce, healthcare workers experience 48% of nonfatal injuries due to workplace violence (WPV). While the drivers and causes of violence are...
The Joint Commission (TJC) has put out several enhancements to its survey processes in 2025. One of the most notable is TJC’s redesigned survey report, put into action in January and applicable to all healthcare organizations that TJC accredits, certifies, and verifies. The commission wrote that...
During a fire, it’s not just the flames you need to worry about. Most fire deaths are due to smoke inhalation, and inside a hospital, nursing home, or clinic, there are plenty of patients who are extra sensitive to changes in air quality. While the wildfires in Los Angeles this January were...
If there’s one thing I know for certain—you can’t allow unfettered access to roof areas and other dangerous spots (e.g., utility spaces, janitor closets, electrical rooms, IT spaces, etc.)
This is part two of our interview with Jeffrey Boord, MD, MPH, chief quality and safety officer at Parkview Health in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Along with two other doctors, he spoke at the 2024 Institute for Healthcare Improvement Forum on ways to improve diabetes care models.
Law firm Barnes & Thornburg’s 2025 Healthcare Compliance Outlook found that the majority of healthcare professionals surveyed feel stretched thin as they navigate complex regulations and mounting cyberattacks, the rapid adoption of AI, and increased scrutiny of healthcare mergers and...
