BACKGROUNDS Health-care workers' (HCWs) exposure to bodily fluids puts them at risk of hepatitis B virus HBV infection. This study investigated HBV vaccination practices and outcomes in HCWs and assessed postvaccination seroprotection across HCWs in different departments. METHODS A survey of HCWs in a Chinese public general hospital was carried out with a retrospective cohort of 1420 hospital...

BACKGROUND There is a disproportionately high number of cases of work-related asthma occurring in health care occupations due to agents such as glutaraldehyde, latex and cleaning products. AIMS To understand the causes and measure trends over time of occupational asthma (OA) in health care workers (HCWs). METHODS We reviewed OA notifications from the Midland Thoracic Society's Surveillance ...

OBJECTIVE To determine the incidence of active tuberculosis (TB) in a cohort of health care workers (HCWs). METHODS Descriptive study of active TB cases identified in an occupational health screening of 6,112 HCWs between 2005 and 2010. Cases of active TB were defined as those in which Mycobacterium tuberculosis was identified by direct microscopy or culture; those in which there were symptom...

There has been considerable debate about the need for mandatory serologic testing of individuals who are the source of bloodborne pathogen exposures in health care and other occupational settings. The transmission of hepatitis B (HBV), hepatitis C (HCV) and HIV between patients and health care workers (HCWs) is related to the frequency of exposures capable of allowing transmission, the prevalen...

The Problem: OSHA’s (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) recommendations aimed at protecting health care workers (HCWs) from acquiring blood-borne diseases in the workplace. OSHA’S Solution: a recommendation to establish “standard operating procedures” and to classify all hospital -jobs into three categories based on degree of exposure to blood, body fluids, or tissues.’ Although thi...

BACKGROUND Hepatitis B vaccination for healthcare workers (HCWs) is a key component of the WHO Hepatitis B Elimination Strategy 2016-2021. Data on current hepatitis B vaccine coverage among health care workers in Sub-Saharan Africa are scarce, but these data are vital for effective programming. We assessed the proportion of HCWs vaccinated for hepatitis B and the factors associated with adequat...

BACKGROUND Vaccination of health care workers (HCWs) is an important patient safety initiative. It prevents influenza infection among patients and reduces staff illness and absenteeism. Despite these benefits, HCW influenza immunization uptake is low. Therefore, strategies to achieve high immunization coverage in HCWs, barriers to uptake, and perceptions of mandatory influenza immunization poli...

Background and Objectives Despite improvements in modern diagnosis and therapies, hospital acquired infections remain a leading problem of global health systems. Healthcare workers mobile phones is a reservoir for potential pathogens. Despite the high possibility of being contaminated, mobile phones are rarely clean and are often touched during or after examination of patients and handling of s...

BACKGROUND Inadequate knowledge and wrong perception of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) by Health Care Workers (HCWs) and patients are detrimental to tuberculosis control programs. OBJECTIVE The aim was to assess the knowledge and attitudes of HCWs and TB patients about MDR-TB in Delta State, Nigeria. MATERIALS AND METHODS A cross-sectional study was carried out among HCWs and TB ...

Health care workers (HCWs) in Taiwan have heavy, stressful workloads, are on-call, and have rotating nightshifts, all of which might contribute to peptic ulcer disease (PUD). We wanted to evaluate the PUD risk in HCWs, which is not clear. Using Taiwan's National Health Insurance Research Database, we identified 50,226 physicians, 122,357 nurses, 20,677 pharmacists, and 25,059 other HCWs (dietic...