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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.

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