Poster Presentation

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2024PP001

Removing the Enigma: Disease Exposure Prevention in the Healthcare World

Cory Worden, Ph.D.*(ABD), MS, CSP, CSHM, CHSP, ARM, REM, CESCO

City of Houston, TX

In the high-risk healthcare environment, disease exposure risks have long since been a mixture of concern, complacency, politics, and seemingly enigmatic risk controls. However, using a methodology enabling existing regulations and standards, the Hierarchy of Controls, and evidence-supported Hazardous Materials response procedures, disease exposures of all types and severities can be assessed and controlled. This poster covers disease exposure risks, applicable controls, and an after-action review of the initial COVID-19 pandemic response illustrating the opportunities in hazard/risk assessment, hazard containment, responder protection, and recovery applicable to any disease exposure prevention and control situation.

2024PP002

Times of Change: ABOHN 2023 Practice Analysis Results

Betty Sanisidro, DNP, MSN, RN, COHN-S, APHN-BC and Carole Cusack, MBA, ICE-CCP

American Board for Occupational Health Nurses, Inc. (ABOHN), Palos Heights, IL

This poster presentation provides a depiction of the 2023 ABOHN Practice/Job Analysis results and resulting new specialty certification exam content outlines due to the change in occupational health nurse roles/practice since and related to the SARs-CoV2 pandemic.

2024PP003

Lessons Learned in Establishing and Sustaining Elastomeric Half Mask Respirator-Based Respiratory Protection Programs: An Impact Evaluation

Mihili Edirisooriya, PhD and Emily J. Haas, PhD

National Personal Protective Technology Laboratory, NIOSH, CDC, Pittsburgh, PA

Integrating elastomeric half mask respirators (EHMRs) as the primary respirator in health delivery settings requires additional considerations in respiratory protection programs (RPPs) than the more common N95® filtering facepiece respirators. This poster presents results from a one-year impact evaluation with 42 healthcare and first responder settings that received EHMRs from the Strategic National Stockpile in 2021 and 2022. The study explored advantages and disadvantages associated with EHMRs and challenges related to establishing, implementing, maintaining, and sustaining EHMR-based RPPs. Data from participating organizations addressed: 1) the most important perceived elements and practices of an EHMR-based RPP to support a long-term program; and 2) differences in perceptions of the most important elements and practices based on organizational size (i.e., small, medium, and large). Sustaining an EHMR program was considered the most important area to focus future efforts, followed by daily maintenance of the program, development and implementation of the program, and access to EHMRs, respectively. Findings also revealed statistically significant differences in perceptions based on organization size, particularly regarding access to EHMR models/designs. The results highlighted in the poster illustrate the importance of user accountability, organizational support, and culture in EHMR-based RPPs to support emergency preparedness efforts.

2024PP004

Decreasing Patient Handling Injury Experience for Patient Transporters

Lisa Wojtak, BSN, RN, COHN-S, Treva Horhn, LPTA, CEAS II, Michelle Taylor, LPTA, CEAS II, CSPHA, Crystal Ford-Weaver, BA, and Dmitry Beyder, MPA, CNMT

BJC HealthCare, St. Louis, MO

Background: In 2021, a large, urban academic hospital initiated a project to prevent transporter patient handling injuries. Transporters transfer patients to and from diagnostic testing, assist with car transfers at discharge, and lift patients from the floor after falls. An Injury Review Team was created to decrease the number of patient handling injuries. Method: The Injury Review Team, including department leadership, Occupational Health, and Ergonomics, met monthly to review incurred incidents, and transporter processes and procedures, and to analyze patient handling education/training methods. When an injury occurred, an Ergonomic Specialist met with employees to review mechanism of injury and provide just-in-time training. Interventions placed after implementation of the Injury Review Team provided more effective training and decreased injuries. Results: Patient handling injuries decreased 60% in 2022 and 2023. Conclusion: With the efforts of the Injury Review Team, the Transport department manager was approved to purchase additional motorized stretchers. In 2023, the Injury Review Team won the AON Safety National Grant award. The team also received the Quest Award (Quality, Excellence, Safety, Team Award), which recognizes improvements in processes and services within the hospital.

2024PP005

Tackling TB Together

Michelle Rothoff, MD, Doreen Williams, RN, Samantha Berres, Chanda Hesson, and Elizabeth Jimenez

QIAGEN and Alaska Department of Health, Richland, WA

In 2023, QIAGEN and the Alaska Department of Health entered into a partnership agreement to tackle tuberculosis (TB) in Alaska, which is the highest incidence rate state in the United States. Our goal is to provide education to providers and communities through multiple media outlets. We have created posters directed toward residents, offered webinars for providers, and delivered TB awareness education to multiple healthcare facilities. In the fall of 2023, Alaska Public Health nurses developed a brief educational presentation for elementary school age children. It was delivered to grades 3-5 at two pilot schools. At the end of the presentation, the students were asked to draw what TB looks like to them. Fourteen drawings were selected and made into a 2024 calendar that was distributed throughout the state. Another goal is to increase testing across the state. This can be challenging due to the remoteness of the territory. Part of the implementation plan includes purchasing incubators for remote locations to allow for additional time with transporting blood specimens to the lab for processing. This great partnership reflects some of the opportunities that can arise when health sectors collaborate with a vendor's Public Health Initiative to tackle problems together.

2024PP006

Enhancing Efficiency in Rapid Flu Vaccination Clinics: A Comprehensive Approach to Administrative Process Optimization

Alvi Bartonico, BSHA and Allister Pamplona, BBA

University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX

Background: This project addresses challenges in managing organization-wide influenza vaccination clinics, including manual data entry, extended wait times, inefficient documentation, and constraints in staffing. Purpose: The project aimed to develop rapid influenza vaccination clinics for improved efficiency and customer satisfaction, and to decrease personnel costs. Methods: Implemented strategies included QR code scanning for check-in, electronic consents, dashboards, and rapid data entry. Results: Significant improvements were achieved, including a reduction in wait times resulting in an increased number of vaccinated employees. Specifically, in 2023 there was a 10.09% increase from the 2022 season. Overall, total administrative FTE was reduced by 70%, with 20 FTEs being utilized in 2022 and only 6 FTEs needed in 2023. Data entry errors were markedly reduced, which enhanced patient record accuracy. The elimination of manual data reconciliation allowed administrative staff to focus on customer service. Conclusion: Implementation of real-time dashboards reduced data entry errors and facilitated quality assurance checks. Electronic submission via a portal improved data accuracy and accessibility, while also reducing the administrative FTE requirements. This project underscores the importance of implementing a streamlined administrative process in vaccination clinics to improve efficiency, reduce errors, enhance patient satisfaction, and optimize resource utilization.

2024PP007

Close Up Five-Year Trends in Occupational Exposures to Blood and Body Fluids

Amber Hogan Mitchell, DrPH, MPH and Ginger B. Parker, MBA

International Safety Center, League City, TX

The International Safety Center (ISC) has been collecting needlestick, sharps injury, and mucocutaneous data from an aggregate of U.S. hospitals in their database - Exposure Prevention Information Network (EPINet®) - for many decades. EPINet has been distributed to thousands of U.S. hospitals and dozens of countries. This poster presents U.S. data over the last five years, spanning the COVID-19 pandemic, to determine if there is a change in device type causing injury and personal protective equipment (PPE) use for mucocutaneous exposure incidents. Data are reported to the ISC on an annual basis from about 40 healthcare facilities and systems and posted publicly on our website: internationalsafetycenter.org. The data are presented in summary; this is a chance to see the data up close! Have the device types changed over the span of five years? Has PPE use increased to prevent splash and splatter exposures? Come take a look, see some trends you may not expect, and gain insights into some targeted prevention campaigns that your facility may want to explore.

2024PP008

A Growing New Trend in Managing Healthcare Workers with Substance Use Disorder

Jason Reed Painter, MSN, AGPCNP-BC and Lija Gireesh, DNP, MBA, FNP-BC, NEA-BC, COHN-S

ChristianaCare, Newark, DE

Substance use among healthcare workers is a problem. Interventions by employers have traditionally included recovery and monitoring programs that utilize a discipline approach that is designed to penalize impaired healthcare workers and prevent them from practicing to protect the public from harm. Alternative-to-discipline programs have since become a more popular option, which allow healthcare workers in substance use recovery to return to work with safety measures in place that include ongoing drug testing, workplace monitoring, and participation in counseling. The goal of this poster is to discuss interventions taken by a tertiary hospital and its nurse-run occupational health clinic with identifying and assisting healthcare workers with a substance use disorder with the intent of having the healthcare worker safely return to their duties. From 2020-2023, 50% of the enrolled employees completed and graduated from the program, 10% sought employment changes due to other reasons, and 40% are on the journey for three-year completion. This non-punitive approach spearheaded by the occupational health nurse to support healthcare workers in recovery through a strong partnership with a workplace monitor is one of the key factors in our success, along with the engineering controls.

2024PP009

Culture Change: Winning Hearts and Minds for Safety

Cory Worden, PhD(ABD), MS, CSP, CSHM, CHSP, ARM, REM, CESCO

City of Houston, Houston, TX

While culture change in the healthcare industry is needed to drive safety culture and high-reliability operations, the process for completing that culture change is not conclusive and often in contention. One factor in agreement is the need to “Win Hearts and Minds.” By looking at the roots of this phrase from military counterinsurgency operations and the process during combat operations where the downside of failed culture change can be increased violence, we can juxtapose the counterinsurgency principles with what we already know about safety management, occupational health, and high-reliability principles. With this, we can create a process for culture change where the insurgents are not enemy combatants, but instead unsafe working conditions and unsafe work practices. This poster details this process and the research behind it based on Cory Worden's research and book.

2024PP010

Diversity and Inclusion in Mindfulness-Based Interventions for Healthcare Providers

Cayir Burke, E., MD, PhD, Department of Health Sciences, Towson University, Cunningham T., RN, DrPH, MSN, FAAN, Woodruff Health Sciences Center, Emory Healthcare, Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing, Emory University and Brown, L., NP, PhD, ABCCM Doctors Medical Clinic Inc.

Introduction: Mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) are increasingly used to counter the effects of workplace stressors and promote wellness among healthcare providers (HCPs). This systematic literature review aims to examine diversity and inclusion in MBIs for HCPs in the United States, and to describe implications for future research and practice. Methodology: We conducted a search of Ovid/MEDLINE, CINAHL, PsycINFO, and COCHRANE databases for peer-reviewed articles published after 2000. Other inclusion criteria for the articles were to: 1) focus on the delivery or evaluation of an MBI; 2) include a sample of HCPs; and 3) be published in English. Two reviewers independently assessed the final articles to determine the diversity of the sample, and adaptation of the intervention content and delivery, to address the needs of underrepresented minoritized (URM) providers. Results: Of the 31 articles included in the review, 57% (n=17) did not report racial/ethnic composition of the sample. In nine of the 14 studies that reported racial/ethnic characteristics of the sample, a majority of the participants (51% to 97%) were white. None of the articles mentioned an adaptation of the intervention content and delivery to address unique workplace wellness needs of the URM providers. Similarly, none of the articles incorporated a discussion of the diversity, inclusion, and cultural adaptation in MBIs. Conclusions: There is a lack of attention to the workplace experiences and stressors faced by URM providers when designing and delivering MBIs.