Becker's Hospital Review

68 CMO / CARE DELIVERY 50%+ of hospital trainees work while experiencing flu-like illness By Anuja Vaidya W orking while sick with influenza-like illness may be com- mon in training programs at hospitals, according to a study published in the American Journal of Infection Control. Researchers conducted the study at Montefiore Medical Center/ Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City. They polled internal medicine and subspecialty house staff and program di- rectors via an anonymous electronic survey between April 23 and June 15, 2018. Forty-nine percent of 200 house staff members and 59 percent of 39 program directors participated in the survey. Researchers found: • Fifty-four percent of trainees and 26 percent of program leaders reported working while sick with flu-like illness in the past year. • More than 90 percent of trainees and program leaders re- ported that working while sick with flu-like illness places oth- ers at risk. • Only 9 percent of program leaders accurately estimated the prevalence of trainees working while sick. Both trainees and program directors cited "not wanting to burden colleagues" as the top reason for working while sick with flu-like illness. Additionally, most trainees did not correctly answer flu knowledge questions. n Cleveland Clinic CEO: Violence 'epidemic' happening in hospitals nationwide — 4 takeaways By Alyssa Rege I ncidents of workplace violence in the healthcare space between 2002 and 2013 were four times more common, on average, than in private industry overall, according to data from the Occupational Safety and Health Administra- tion cited by Crain's Cleveland Business. Four things to know: 1. Violence against healthcare personnel has steadily in- creased in recent years. Cleveland Clinic CEO Tom Mihal- jevic, MD, highlighted the issue during his annual State of the Clinic speech in February, calling the situation an "ep- idemic." "ere is a very fundamental problem in U.S. healthcare that very few people speak about, and that's the violence against healthcare workers. Daily, literally daily, we're ex- posed to violent outbursts, in particular in our emergency rooms," he said. "It is an epidemic, because it is an epidemic that nobody speaks about. Yet it strains those who are trying to help others. It is very disconcerting to have well-meaning peo- ple who dedicated their lives and their careers being put in harm's way by trying to help others," he added during an interview aer the speech. 2. e U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics documents incidence rates of nonfatal occupational injuries and illnesses, includ- ing intentional injury by another person. Crain's reported that of the 18,400 injuries reported in the private sector in 2017 to the bureau, 71 percent took place in a healthcare setting. 3 While Cleveland Clinic and other hospitals and health systems have instituted various safety mechanisms to pre- vent violence, including metal detectors, additional security and the confiscation of weapons on hospital premises, the methods that work for some institutions may not work for others, the report state. 4. Cleveland-based University Hospitals COO Ron Dz- iedzicki, BSN, RN, told Crain's hospitals are not any differ- ent from other public locations, but must weigh those needs against the provision of care. "I don't think hospitals are any different than churches or malls or movie theaters — except for hospitals, we are a pro- vider of care. We save lives. So we have to balance the need to be able to have rapid access to care against that balance of safety for employees," he said. n 10 most common sentinel events of 2018 By Mackenzie Bean P atient falls were the most frequently reported sen- tinel event in 2018, ac- cording to a March 13 report from The Joint Commission. The Joint Commission de- fines a sentinel event as a pa- tient safety event that results in death, permanent harm, severe temporary harm or in- tervention required to sustain life. The organization requires hospitals to conduct a root- cause analysis after a sentinel event occurs. The Joint Commission re- viewed 801 reports of sentinel events in 2018, 87 percent of which were voluntarily report- ed to the accrediting body. Here are the 10 most frequently reported sentinel events for 2018: 1. Fall — 111 reported 2. Unintended retention of a foreign body — 111 3. Wrong-site surgery — 94 4. Unassigned — 68 5. Unanticipated events such as asphyxiation or being found unresponsive — 59 6. Suicide — 50 7. Delay in treatment — 43 8. Product or device event —29 9. Criminal event — 28 10. Medication error — 24 n

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