Poster Abstracts From the AAOHN 2012 National Conference: April 22–25, 2012, Nashville, Tennessee

• Published in: AAOHN journal 2012-07, Vol.60 (7), p.291-301
• Main Authors: Conlon, Helen Acree, Andrews, Ann, Baldwin, Debra, Balmer, Jennylynn, Bembry, Earl Dan, Bequette, Peg, Bouchard, Christine, Breaux-Shropshire, Tonya, Burns, Candace, Canada, Lynn, Clover, Nancy, Dawson, Patricia, Dyer, Florence, Eberhart, Teresa, Moore, Emily Fisher, Foyt, Merry, Gaetano, Diana, Harris-Uyidi, Stephanie, Hearne, M Diane, Hollins, Kimberly, Joiner, Kevin, Jones, Myra Susan, Jones, Kelvin, Kennerly, Susan, Kirk, Helen, Knoblauch, Denise, Krasinki, Joanna, Kroups, Jean, Lesneski, Lisa, Marks, Steven, McCullagh, Marjorie, Myerson, Karin, Sanon, Marie-Anne, Scovill, Sallie, Sweet, Patricia, Tichenor, Dinah, Viger, Angela, Walker, Brenda, Ward, Angela, Weinsier, Stephanie
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Blood pressure; Hospitals; Hypertension; Medical personnel; Municipal employees; Nurses; Occupational health; Occupational safety; Rabies
• ISSN: 2165-0799; 2165-0969
• DOI: 10.3928/21650799-20120625-03

Developing a proactive treatment program for human bites in the occupational health setting can be a challenging task for the occupational health nurse. One of the challenges is that work-related injuries are characteristically underreported and undertreated. Complications of wound infection, joint deformity, loss of function, and transmission of acute disease from exposure to bodily fluids can be minimized by accurate early assessment and proper evidence-based treatment and surveillance. This poster identified occupations at risk for human bites and discussed the role of the occupational health nurse in early reporting, administering immediate wound care, and initiating hepatitis B and tetanus immunizations. This poster was the result of an extensive literature review of human bites in the occupational setting. It is estimated that Australian health care workers sustain more than 18,500 needlestick injuries per year (Murphy, 2008). Inherently preventable, these injuries cause significant personal, social, and economic distress for health care workers and have an economic impact to Western Australia (WA) Health via lost productivity and treatment and recovery costs. In February 2008, research was conducted by the product liaison officer into the use of safety engineered medical devices (SEMDs) in Australia, finding that no states mandated their use. In April 2009, a WA Safety Sharps Forum was initiated by the Occupational Safety & Health (OSH) Nursing team with the aim of developing a strategy whereby SEMDs would be mandated, extending with time to all WA Health Care Units. At the same time, the state government of WA issued a 7% cut in spending across all agencies. Agencies reacted by restricting new programs. Despite this, OSH Nursing continued to implement the SEMDs, commencing with a pilot trial completely substituting standard sharps devices in five acute clinical areas. The outcome was a significant downward trend of needlestick injuries, which continues, to below the Australian Council on Healthcare needlestick injury national benchmark. This study validates this program's success in reducing the incidence of needlestick injuries among health care workers. Although hypertension is highly prevalent, associated with serious health consequences, but treatable, fewer than half of those with hypertension have achieved hypertension control (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2011). Epidemiological evidence supports the claim that psychological fa