Safety for Healthcare Workers
Course Titles and Descriptions
Active Shooter for Healthcare Environments
Mass shootings have become all too commonplace, whether they are due to acts of terrorism, hate, or mental instability. Fortunately, there are things you can do to prepare, respond, and survive. This course offers information for everyone in a healthcare environment along with guidance on how to leverage the unique environment found within healthcare workspace when an active shooting event occur. This training course is designed for healthcare workers who could find themselves in an active shooter situation before law enforcement arrives and describes methods to limit the damage and save lives both before and during these traumatic incidents. During this session, you’ll learn what an active shooter is, how to prepare for one, how to respond to one, and how to recognize warning signs of potential violence.
Acute Respiratory Illness Pandemic Training for Healthcare Workers
| Today, we’re going to talk about how to prepare for acute respiratory illness pandemics. For most healthy adults, seasonal viruses are not generally life-threatening. But as you’ve seen in the news, respiratory disease pandemics, such as those caused by coronaviruses or influenza, are something else. They often involve new strains of viruses to which people have developed no immunity. These kinds of viruses can spread quickly and widely, and they can pose a major global health threat. That’s why you need to know about acute respiratory illness pandemics and how to prepare for them. |
Acute Respiratory Illness Pandemic Training for Healthcare Workers (Spanish)
| For most healthy adults, seasonal viruses are not generally life-threatening. But as you’ve seen in the news, respiratory disease pandemics, such as those caused by coronaviruses or influenza, are something else. They often involve new strains of viruses to which people have developed no immunity. These kinds of viruses can spread quickly and widely, and they can pose a major global health threat. That’s why you need to know about acute respiratory illness pandemics and how to prepare for them. The main objective of this course is to make you aware of the risks of pandemics, the potential problems we could all face should we be hit with a pandemic, and the precautions you would need to take to keep you, your family, and your patients safe. |
Bloodborne Pathogens: Healthcare Workers
Your job in health care involves helping others. But sometimes doing your job could put you at risk of exposure to bloodborne pathogens. We will talk about what bloodborne pathogens are, how you might be exposed to them, the precautions you can take to successfully prevent exposure, and what to do if you are exposed. Fortunately, your chance of being exposed to bloodborne pathogens on the job is small. But keeping that risk to a minimum is important to us all.
Electrical Safety: Unqualified Person
Workers who operate machines and electric-powered tools and equipment, and others who do maintenance or service work on or near electrical systems, but are not qualified to perform electrical work, face the risk of contact with electricity that can cause life-threatening shock, burns, fires, falls, and electrocution.
This course is for workers exposed to electricity in general industry workplaces, from a janitor operating a vacuum to heating and cooling system technicians, but who are not authorized or qualified to work directly on or near exposed, energized electrical systems or parts. It’s designed to help workers unfamiliar with or untrained in the technical aspects of electricity to recognize electrical hazards and safe practices to avoid injury on the job.
Additional training is required for workers who are qualified to work on or near exposed, energized electrical equipment and wiring.
Emergency Preparedness for Healthcare Workers
Unfortunately, workplace emergencies are a fact of life. Fortunately, they don’t happen often. But when they do, the result can be very bad for us and for our patients. To minimize injuries, loss of life, and damage to the facility, we must all be prepared to act effectively in a variety of possible emergency situations.
Ergonomics for Healthcare Workers
| According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, or OSHA, work-related musculoskeletal disorders, or MSDs, are among the most frequently reported causes of lost or restricted work time. Workers in many different industries and occupations can be exposed to MSD risk factors on the job. Fortunately, work-related MSDs can be prevented. By understanding basic ergonomic principles and applying them to your job, you can minimize MSD risk factors, avoid strains on your body, and reduce your risk of injury. This session is designed to assist all workers in healthcare settings, including care providers, support personnel, and administrative staff, in preventing MSDs. |
Handling Medical Waste
Healthcare facilities, such as hospitals, physicians’ offices, dental practices, blood banks, veterinary hospitals/clinics, and medical research facilities and laboratories, generate medical wastes. As a healthcare worker, you may be exposed to medical wastes on the job. For example, patient care workers, housekeepers, maintenance personnel, and others may all be involved in handling medical wastes or at least come in contact with these materials. Some medical wastes can be hazardous to your health. This course is designed to explain the hazards of medical wastes, the precautions you can take to protect yourself from harmful exposures, and the procedures you must follow to protect yourself and your facility coworkers from the hazards of medical wastes.
Hazard Communication for Healthcare Workers
Hazard communication is a requirement of state and federal law. The standard, which is also referred to as the worker right to know standard, makes sure that you know all about the possible dangers of hazardous chemicals that you may come into contact with as a healthcare worker and gives you the information to protect yourself from those hazards. Your employer is required to provide you with this information for the hazardous chemicals present in your workplace.
HIPAA Privacy Rule: What Healthcare Workers Need to Know
HIPAA stands for the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. HIPAA was enacted in 1996 to increase access to and the efficiency of the healthcare system in the United States. One very important aspect of HIPAA is its Privacy Rule, which protects individual’s medical records and other health-related information. This rule is especially important in the electronic age when so much information is readily available to so many. HIPAA requires that the Department of Health and Human Services publicize standards for the electronic exchange, privacy, and security of health information. Today, we’ll explain what the HIPAA Privacy Rule is, why it is important, and how it helps protect your personal health information as well as the health information of patients in your facility.
How to Lift and Transfer Patients Safely
One of the biggest hazards healthcare workers face on the job is back injuries and related stress injuries caused by lifting and transferring patients. This module is designed for acute care staff and home health caregivers who lift or transfer patients as part of their job duties.
How to Prevent Slips, Trips, and Falls for Healthcare Workers
The main objective of this training session is to help you avoid slip, trip, and fall hazards and prevent accidents. This course focuses on Occupational Safety and Health Administration, or OSHA, requirements and best practices. It does not address rules or guidance issued by other agencies or organizations such as the Joint Commission that may also apply to you.
How to Prevent Workplace Violence: A Guide for Healthcare Workers
| Workplace violence is among the leading causes of workplace fatalities, and there are thousands of nonfatal violent on-the-job incidents each year. Workplace violence can occur at any business or workplace, but there are some environments and occupations that are at higher risk. One of the occupations at a higher risk is healthcare workers. This session discusses your role in preventing violence by recognizing the warning signs of workplace violence and defusing potentially violent situations. This session also discusses the appropriate way to respond to violent incidents. |
Personal Protective Equipment: Healthcare Workers
Today, you’ll learn why using the right PPE for the job is so important. You’ll also learn about hazards that require PPE and how to select, use, and maintain your PPE so that it can always provide the protection you need. The main objective of this training session is to provide you with an awareness of how to use PPE effectively to protect against job hazards. This course focuses on Occupational Safety and Health Administration, or OSHA, requirements. It does not address rules or guidance issued by other agencies or organizations such as the Joint Commission that may also apply to you.
Respiratory Protection
Millions of workers like you wear respirators in workplaces across a wide variety of industries to protect against poor oxygen environments, harmful dusts, fogs, smokes, mists, gases, vapors, and sprays. But just wearing a respirator is not enough. You need to know how to properly fit, use, inspect, and maintain your respirator to fully protect yourself from these respiratory hazards. If you don’t, these hazards can cause cancer, lung impairment, lung diseases, or even death.
Respiratory Protection (Spanish)
Millions of workers wear respirators in workplaces across a wide variety of industries to protect against airborne contaminants and poor oxygen environments. But just wearing a respirator is not enough. Respirator users must know how to properly fit, use, inspect, and maintain their respirators to fully protect against respiratory hazards. This course will help you recognize respiratory hazards in your workplace and show you how to use and maintain respirators to keep yourself safe. By the end of the training, you will be able to identify common respiratory hazards and explain why respirators are necessary to protect against these hazards; describe how a respirator operates and recognize the capabilities and limitations of each type of respirator; safely wear and use your respirator; properly inspect, maintain, and store your respirator; recognize emergency situations and medical symptoms that limit the effective use of respirators; and summarize your employer’s obligations under the Respiratory Protection Standard. This course does not address the requirements for employees who voluntarily use respirators or for interior structural firefighters.
Stress Management
“Stress can be harmful to our health and increase mental health challenges. Mental health challenges can include clinical mental illness and substance use disorders as well as other emotions like stress, grief, or feeling sad and anxious. Fortunately, there are steps you can take to manage stress, as well as improve mental health and well-being. This session is intended for all employees.
Workplace Violence Prevention for Health Care in California: What Employees Need to Know
Although workplace violence is often unpredictable and can happen in any business, there are some environments and occupations that are at higher risk. One of the occupations at a higher risk is healthcare workers. This session discusses your role in preventing violence by recognizing potential threats, defusing violent situations, and reporting any violent incidents. This course is designed to meet the requirements of California’s Workplace Violence Prevention in Health Care, but it outlines preventive and safe work practices that can apply to health care facilities around the country.
