Anaesthesia, Intensive Care and Pain Medicine - St Vincent's ...
Anaesthesia, Intensive Care and Pain Medicine - St Vincent's ...
Anaesthesia, Intensive Care and Pain Medicine - St Vincent's ...
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<strong>St</strong>.Vincent’s Healthcare Group<br />
Occupational Health<br />
D e p a r t m e n t<br />
Allied Health Professional <strong>and</strong> Support Services<br />
Education<br />
The department contributed to many other educational<br />
programmes including:<br />
•Health <strong>and</strong> Safety Week activities.<br />
•The Department of Preventive <strong>Medicine</strong> <strong>and</strong> Health<br />
Promotion Smoking Cessation programme for staff.<br />
•The SVUH adult education programme.<br />
•All hospital induction programmes.<br />
Audit<br />
Ocupational Injuries 2003 2002 2001<br />
Sharps/Inoculations 83 104 106<br />
Blood splashes 18 24 9<br />
Other injuries 189 252 235<br />
OHD attendance for certain occupational infections<br />
SRSV 98 182 -<br />
<strong>St</strong>aff<br />
Members of the Occupational Health Department<br />
during 2003 were:<br />
Occupational Physician<br />
Dr. Paul Guéret<br />
Dr. Jacinta More-O’Ferrall<br />
Dr. Dave Madden<br />
Occupational Psychologist<br />
Nuala Gannon<br />
A needlestick injury prevention information st<strong>and</strong> was displayed<br />
regularly in different locations in the hospital.<br />
‘Working Backs’ programme for staff<br />
Following an audit of time lost from work due to back<br />
problems in 2003 an access <strong>and</strong> referral system for all hospital<br />
employees was developed later in the year. Proposals for<br />
information sessions, firstly for line managers,<strong>and</strong> then for all<br />
staff were agreed <strong>and</strong> planned for implementation during 2004.<br />
In 2003 audits were carried out by the Department into:<br />
a) The effectiveness of the needlestick injury<br />
management pack.<br />
b) Needlestick injury rates.<br />
c) The effectiveness of needlestick equipment in use.<br />
d) Time lost from work due to back pain.<br />
e) Work absence in specific locations.<br />
f) Evaluation of the usefulness of health promotion posters.<br />
These audits proved useful in informing the work of the<br />
department.<br />
Visits to the OHD for non-vaccine consultations<br />
Seen by<br />
Occupational Nursing Team 1247 993 617<br />
Seen by<br />
Occupational Medical Team 463 782 920<br />
Seen by<br />
Occupational Psychologist 144 55 5<br />
180<br />
Clinical Nurse Specialist (CNS)<br />
Siobhan Bulfin<br />
Emma O’Brien CNS (to March 2003)<br />
Ann O’Reilly CNS (from March 2003)<br />
Lorraine Diaz CNS (to Sept.ember 2003)<br />
Eilish Mulligan CNS (to November 2003)<br />
Administrative support<br />
Ursula Power (to June 2003)<br />
Áine Yap (from September 2003)<br />
Susan Collum<br />
Other hospital staff who contributed to the department include<br />
Theresa Flynn <strong>and</strong> Catherine To o l e ;the health & safety coordinator,<br />
infection control <strong>and</strong> health promotion department personnel.<br />
In June 2003 Ursula Power retired from the position of<br />
administrative support; Áine Yap is a new <strong>and</strong> welcome<br />
replacement.<br />
<strong>St</strong>ress management activities<br />
In 2003 the first of the ‘Managing work-related stress’ seminars<br />
was undertaken. 302 staff members from all areas of the<br />
hospital attended these sessions.<br />
Other seminars provided during the year included:<br />
• Approaches to dealing with conflict.<br />
• Well-being at work.<br />
• Facilitating behavioural change.<br />
• Underst<strong>and</strong>ing loss <strong>and</strong> bereavement.<br />
• Dealing with violence <strong>and</strong> aggression at work.<br />
Workshops dealing with specific issues were provided to 5<br />
departments.<br />
3 departments established <strong>St</strong>ress Management Committees<br />
with assistance.There were 144 attendances at the confidential<br />
staff support service.<br />
Influenza vaccination programme<br />
Department <strong>St</strong>atistics<br />
The numbers attending the department continue to rise.There<br />
were a total of 3018 attendances at the department compared<br />
to 2377 in 2002.<br />
Reasons for attendance at the Occupational<br />
Health Department<br />
There were 144 attendances at the Occupational Psychologist<br />
this year, a 41% increase from last year.<br />
Attendance at Occupational Psychologist 2001-2003<br />
181<br />
Significant achievements<br />
Needlestick injury prevention activities<br />
Medical <strong>and</strong> psychological assistance was provided for the 83<br />
staff members who received needlestick injuries in 2003.<br />
Needlestick injury prevention workshops commenced in March<br />
<strong>and</strong> proved successful in reducing the incidence of needlestick<br />
injuries by 25% in the first 6 months.281 (14.5%) staff<br />
members attended these workshops.<br />
Seminars were provided on ‘Management of Blood Borne<br />
Viruses’<strong>and</strong> ‘Management of needlestick injuries’<br />
The department encouraged all hospital staff to avail of influenza<br />
vaccination to prevent transmission to the public <strong>and</strong> to preve n t<br />
staff sickness. D u ring the year out-of-hours clinics were prov i d e d<br />
<strong>and</strong> the Department of Health <strong>and</strong> Children ran a well-received<br />
publicity campaign;this resulted in some 702 employees<br />
receiving the vaccine this year compared to 420 in 2002.<br />
Skin care information sessions<br />
The following information sessions were provided this year:<br />
•‘The right glove for the right job’ - a skin care<br />
information session.<br />
• ‘Latex in Healthcare’- a latex information programme.<br />
The department also produced an information leaflet.