The Epidemic of Health Care Worker Injury

Describes the dangers of working in health care. This book focuses on major categories of health care worker injury such as needle sticks, back injury, violence and assault, infectious diseases such as tuberculosis and hepatitis C, and latex allergy.

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Traditionally, health care worker injury exposure data is analyzed one category at a time, which tends to isolate the researcher from a more global perspective of an industry-wide analysis. The Epidemic of Health Care Worker Injury: An Epidemiology provides an industry-wide analysis that facilitates a wide-angle view of the dangers of working in health care, by focusing on the major categories of health care worker injury:
needlesticks, the most prevalent risk

back injury, the most expensive risk

violence and assault-health care workers account for more than half of all assaulted service workers

infectious diseases such as tuberculosis and hepatitis C

latex allergy, which now affects almost 10% of health-care workers

managed care and its profound effect on the injury rates through downsizing, deskilling, and increased acuity

injuries to different populations of health care workers

home health care injury rates

long-term care injuries, which have doubled in the last decade