Thursday, April 4, 2013

AOHP Targets Safety Concerns


Association of Occupational Health Professionals in Healthcare released its 2013-15 Public Policy Statement, targeting safety and health concerns in healthcare.

AOHP identified the following areas of focus to address during the next 2 years:

  •       Overall healthcare worker safety, health and well-being, including eliminating occupational hazards and raising awareness of potential interactions between patient and worker health and safety activities.
  •          Occupational health professional development through education, leadership development and professional support.
  •          Building partnerships with stakeholders such as The Joint Commission’s Nursing Advisory Council, CDC, NIOSH National Occupational Research Agenda’s Healthcare and Social Assistance Sector, and other agencies and associations.


Additionally, AOHP plans to pursue five safety and health initiatives:

1.     Decrease bloodborne pathogen exposure by sharps injuries in healthcare. AOHP advocates a comprehensive approach to this issue, including development of safer medical devices, injury prevention teams, administrative controls and healthcare worker education.
2.     Support efforts to provide free influenza vaccines to healthcare workers and promote further research regarding influenza transmission and vaccination.
3.     Support regulations, legislation, education, training, research and prevention activities to promote safer patient handling.
4.     Advocate for increased research, training and education related to respiratory protection from tuberculosis and other airborne respiratory transmissible diseases.
5.     Decrease workplace violence by encouraging healthcare organizations to protect patients, employees and visitors by providing facility-specific violence prevention programs. Continue research regarding workplace violence prevention.

View AOHP’s public policy statement here