179 Healthcare: Introduction to Common Hospital Hazards

Intensive Care Units

Injuries may occur to employees in an intensive care unit (ICU) from improper training or use of some equipment, such as defibrillators. It is a good idea to have a program that routinely monitors the status of equipment and proper training of employees to use the equipment safely.

ICUs, particularly neonatal ICUs, may be designed without walls between patient spaces. This may allow employees to be unknowingly exposed to aerosolized chemicals and x-ray radiation that escape from neighboring areas.

Work Practice Controls

Here are some possible work practice controls to help prevent ICU workers from potential hazards:

• All rooms should have adequate ventilation to remove contaminants.
• If air recirculation is required, then adequate filtering should be installed.
• Staff in adjoining patient spaces may need to be warned and removed if procedures such as x-rays are occurring.
• Aerosolized chemicals should be administered in a manner that does not expose staff or patients in the area to the hazard.
• Hands should be washed frequently and thoroughly. Workers should wash immediately after direct contact with any chemical, drug, blood, or other body fluid.
• No eating, drinking, smoking, or applying cosmetics should take place in the ICU.
• Needles and other sharp objects should be disposed of promptly in impervious containers. Needles should not be clipped or recapped by hand.
• There should be immediate and proper disposal of biohazardous waste.
• Mouth pipetting is to be prohibited.
• Appropriate personal dosimetry devices should be worn when working with radioactive materials.
• Electrical equipment that appears to be damaged or in poor repair should not be used. Any shocks from electrical equipment should be reported promptly to the maintenance department.
• Cylinders of compressed gases should be kept secured. They should never be dropped or allowed to strike each other with force.
• Large pieces of broken glass should be removed with brooms and disposed of in a separate container. Small pieces can be removed with tongs. Glass should never be removed with fingers.
• Vaporizers of anesthesia machines should be turned off when not in use. Also, proper face masks, sufficiently inflated endotracheal tubes, and prevention of anesthetic spills will decrease the amount of waste anesthetic gases in the operating room.
• Antineoplastic drug contact requires the use of an isotonic wash to the body or eyes.

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