Health Hazards in Nursing

occupational wellness happens in the health check examination exam theatre of operations Kim Chastain AB TECH April 24, 2012 Abstract Medical personnel come into contact with a complex variety of deadly toxins. make comes from industrial cleaners, sterilization products, radiotherapy, practice of medicines, and mercury. Side make of these deadly materials argon known to tone down to a variety of raftcers, miscarriages, asthma, consanguinity defects and metabolous syndromes. Goernment agencies kick in been negligent in fostering wellnesscargon workers from exposures to these materials.There has never been a government-funded study of these materials and their impact on health and the environment however independent studies sustain shown higher(prenominal)(prenominal) rates of disease in healthc atomic number 18 professionals and their children. According to environmental work stem (2007), of the 82,000 chemicals in record only when around one cardinal and lxxx select been tested. Thousands of pollutants potful be strand in all medical position yet only half dozen invite government oeuvre uninjuredty patterns.Exposure standards decline in quality to individual facilities to regulate, and vary wildly depending on facility understanding of these toxins. Continued prep atomic number 18dness is recommended when new chemicals and equipment atomic number 18 changed. health care facilities should similarly be tested on a yearly basis to identify areas of befoulment to the employee and patient. Keywords Toxin, approximates, occupational disease In 1970 chairperson Nixon and Congress instituted OSHA to create a safe working environment and NIOSH (The depicted object take for Occupational asylum and Health) to research body of work impales.While OSHA and NIOSH take on clear guidelines for commons biological agent procedures, almost nonhing exists for chemical and toxin exposures. From doctors and comforts to janitors and direct deli genuinely, anyone who comes into contact with these toxins is at risk. The nature of the nurse or doctors exposure is two tidy sum consumer contaminates from home and industrial contaminates from work. Illnesses reported by medical personnel range from continuing skin dermatitis and asthma to acute bread and butter threa ten dollar billing conditions archaic cancers, spontaneous abortions, metabolic syndromes and birth defects.The importance of examine the multigenerational homosexual impact of these contaminates is not only to economic aid the lives of the medical employee, but would result in helping to determine the effects on the population as well. Individuals that work in health care should be aware of body of work exposure to hazardous materials gear up in the medical industry to bankrupt protect themselves. While the government plays invite up with science individuals must be proactive in learning almost the dangers and what they can do to make the ir workplace safer. Locating the DangerIt is no surprise that toxins can be show in a medical telescope. What does surprise experts is that there are not more(prenominal) regulations and education on how to handle them. There is no enquiry of the impact that these contaminates have on medical personnel and their families. Environmental Working Group (EWG) conducted a survey in 2007 to construe exposure and its effects regarding nurses. Fifteen hundred nurses were asked in a survey to cite exposure to el still common toxins install in a medical setting and health problems seen in their children and themselves. The selective information is staggering.Organizations around the world have conducted their own investigations into workplace exposure and have instal the same(p) results. The conclusion is a global pandemic of cancer, miscarriages and illness never before seen in any different workplace. Figure 1 (Environmental Working Group, 2007) An article by hum Smith (2010) pres ents InvestigateWests examination into the regulations surrounding medication exposure regulations and chronicles the impact they pose by following the illness of pharmacist serve Crump. Ms. Crump at the time of the headspring was in the end stages of pancreatic cancer.Crump had dog-tired 23 years working in the medical industry mixing chemo drugs. InvestigateWest prepare that no government agency has any regulations on exposure to drugs even those that OSHA has deemed as hazardous. OSHA defines hazardous drugs to knowingly cause cancer, birth defects and new(prenominal) illness. Thomas Conner, a police detective for the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health has spent four decades studying chemo medications on personnel. He emphasizes that, There is no other occupation population (that handles) so many known human carcinogens (Lifesaving Drugs, vitriolic Consequences, 2010, para. 1 ). Unlike the US, European countries have taken notice and placed stronger sta ndards to protect its workers, and most have replaced most toxins with fleeceable chemicals. Two Danish studies have found a significant increase risk of leukemia among oncology nurses and physicians and extreme risks of multiple cancers for medical workers (A reserved Threat, 2010, para. 10). Concerned over the growing account of studies NIOSH issued an alert on the dangers of handling toxic drugs however they are only recommendations and OSHA has no intent on making them regulatory.According to the Environmental Working Groups Survey on Nurses (2007), starting signal with the Toxic Substance Control constitute in 1976, the EPA has not reviewed or even begun gathering safety data for more than eighty percent of the chemicals produced or import in annual quantities exceeding ten thousand pounds (The System is Broken, para. 4). This brings in to question the very nature of the agencies that have been set apart into place to protect its citizens. There seems to be no clear cut s tandard for how these government agencies handle the data and resolve to the people or all(prenominal) other.While each one clearly knows and verifies the existence of the dangers they do nada about it. Common Toxins anaesthetic Gas Anesthesia is commonly employ in dental and surgical procedures. Gases fly the coop can from facemasks, tubes and even regulating machines that were created to incorporate exposure. Although NIOSH has recommended exposure limits for many gases apply it is in the first place to protect the worker during the procedure. These gases have been found to increase neurologic issues, lowered fruitfulness in men and women, miscarriage and higher rates of birth defects in children articulalry neurological complications. Medications According to EWG, the FDA has approved close to six thousand medications. Even in reap amounts these medications can pose serious effects. No study has ever been conducted to examine the hazard of combining medications in huma ns. Some chemo drugs are capable of damaging DNA and are known cause certain types of rare cancer. Antiretroviral drugs used for HIV treatment are even more dangerous to a developing fetus. Unnecessary exposure to medication has been linked to everything from skin rashes, asthma, cancer, infertility, and birth defects.Latex and face-to-face care products Latex is a common material used in gloves, catheters, and other plastics. Personal care items range from wash to shaving cream used by patients. Both were linked to asthma and allergies, ranging from moderate reactivenesss to life threatening anaphylaxes. Medical professionals have already been found to have to vanish the job because of the seriousness of their allergies. hydrargyrum containing devices Mercury can still be found in devices ranging from thermometers, blood pressure cuffs to non-medical devices, such(prenominal) as batteries and thermostats.It is known to be exceedingly toxic to the brain and noisome governing body. neurologic disorders have been found to be higher in medical personnel than other occupations. Children born to nurses exposed during pregnancy have higher degrees of developmental delays and central nervous system diseases. radiation syndrome Radiation can be found in medications and used in life saving medical devices. Imaging machines, such as magnetic resonance imaging and CAT scans, have been shown to emit radiation even when protections are in place. Radiation exposure has been proven to cause an increased rate of miscarriage, cancer and birth defects. SterilizationEthylene oxide & angstrom Glutaraldehyde are chemicals used to sterilize anything that cannot be sterilized by steam. Whether the exposure was from the lucid form or spread done evaporation it has been linked allergies, anemia and dire migraines. Recommendations Although many of these contaminates are needed, immediate action should be taken place to vouch the health of everyone who works near them. unm itigated standards for the handling of and the exposure to toxins updated and complete profiles for chemicals and their affects on health and the environment and investigations on health care personnel and their childrens lifespans.Education should be as fast paced as chemical achievement. Healthcare facilities should have mandatory guidelines for replacing hazards with parking lot alternatives when available and only extensively apt personnel allowed to handle them. Conclusions Since the inception of restrainer and regulation of toxins and chemicals the government has banned production of only one chemical, and set very few exposure standards for personnel that are exposed to them. Its apparent in the data that whats being done before long is not working.No other workforce has been asked not only to risk their lives but the lives of their children as well. Bringing to mind the aftermath of 9/11, when the nation watched as military, medical personnel, police, FEMA, and firemen ran to act. but this time no one seems to be watching. Families of medical workers, like Sue Crumb, have been left to wonder why nothing has been done. It has been reported that the nursing shortage is over but is expected to reemerge again by 2020 as the largest employed group of nurses retire.If the healthcare industry continues to be a hazard to its staff one could only subscribe that the shortage will puzzle worse. No one can deny that the accepted burden on the healthcare system is extreme. When our health care professionals begin to thump sick the burden will become greater. 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