With the COVID-19 pandemic, the plight of healthcare workers has come to the forefront. More than ever, people are becoming more aware of the importance of protecting healthcare workers.
Even without pandemic, healthcare workers are exposed to infectious diseases every day, and it is time to reduce their occupational risks. Hence, providers such as Safety & Mobility strive to ensure a safer environment for healthcare workers by providing high-quality protective gear.
Why Is It Important to Protect Healthcare Workers?
While there are several resources available that provide guidelines for protecting healthcare workers, they may not be implemented in many places. Although WHO declares healthcare workers as “the most valuable resource for health”, the health of healthcare workers is often ignored.
The current pandemic has exposed how invaluable healthcare workers are. Hence, it is more important than ever to ensure that healthcare workers are protected from risks and provided with aids to reduce occupational hazards.
What Risks Do Healthcare Workers Face?
Occupational risk in the healthcare industry is relatively high; it is deemed to be one of the most hazardous work environments. Not only are healthcare workers exposed to biological hazards such as disease-causing germs, viruses, and bacteria, but they are exposed to harmful chemicals and radiations as well. Hence, they need to face various health and safety hazards to care for their patients.
Additionally, healthcare workers also need to grapple with ergonomic issues such as lifting heavy objects, standing for long hours, and long shift hours, which compromise their ability to get enough rest.
Protecting Your Healthcare Workers: What You Need to Know
To protect your healthcare workers, you need to ensure that your workplace adheres to guidelines designed to create a safer environment. When working in a healthcare setting, employees often need to deal with biohazardous waste, and proper procedures should be followed for their handling and disposal. Keep your healthcare workers safe by:
- Protocol: To deal with patients who have infectious diseases or to deal with biohazardous waste of different types of specific global guidelines have been established. While you may need to adapt them to your work setting, it needs to be followed strictly. Proper handling, disposal, and storage of items need to be ensured.
- Exercising Caution: When dealing with bodily fluids such as pus, blood, mucus, vomit, or others, they should be treated with care. Workers should be taught to deal with all bodily fluids as though they are infectious.
- Handling and Disposing Instruments: Healthcare workers use and deal with sharp instruments such as needles, scalpels, and more daily. These instruments could not only transmit diseases if they are covered in fluids but could also harm workers by injuring them. Hence, they should be handled with care.
- Protective Gear: To keep workers safe from any infectious disease, protective gear is an indispensable tool. Personal Protective Equipment is useful to ensure that the worker does not come in direct contact with any infectious fluids or items. From face masks to gloves and more, every healthcare worker should have sufficient protective equipment at their disposal. Proper protective gear that providers like Safety & Mobilitysupply are a necessity for every worker.
Keeping healthcare workers safe should be a priority for all. Sufficient health education and communication are necessary to explain the importance of keeping healthcare workers as safe as possible. Protective gear, following guidelines, and careful handling of patients and instruments can go a long way in ensuring their safety.
