OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH SAFETY NETWORK (OHSN)

Healthcare Personnel Traumatic Injury Module

Why is OHSN starting with the healthcare sector?

Healthcare is a growing industry with a substantial burden of occupational injuries and illnesses. Unique work environments place the over 15 million workers employed in this industry at risk for both infectious and non-infectious adverse events. The CDC’s National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) Healthcare Personnel Safety Component includes modules to track infectious disease issues among healthcare personnel (e.g., blood/body fluids exposure, influenza vaccination; See http://www.cdc.gov/nhsn/hps.html); but, current occupational surveillance systems are not designed to collect the specific information needed to identify and address the causes of non-infectious injuries and illnesses among healthcare personnel (HCP). Evidenced-based and scalable interventions already exist and can be broadly implemented to prevent these injuries and illnesses. Our ongoing occupational surveillance in the healthcare industry that is easily accessible and user-friendly can make a difference to guide interventions and monitor their impact.

Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data indicate that these are problems in the healthcare sector, but more detailed data are needed to address the problems.

Information needed to identify and address the causes of non-infectious injuries and illnesses among healthcare workers is currently collected by individual facilities using commercial software programs, home-grown software, Microsoft Office programs, or paper records. Unfortunately, the data collected by individual facilities are inconsistent and impractical to use for benchmarking purposes. NIOSH has been working with many stakeholders to develop the OHSN in order to integrate existing individual healthcare facility surveillance activities into a uniform surveillance strategy. NIOSH and its partners have now finalized data elements to be included in a traumatic injury module and developed guidance for incorporating the OHSN data requirements into the commercial and noncommercial software programs currently being used for occupational health surveillance. These data elements and the standard value sets (response options) can be found under the data plan section of this website.

The first OHSN Module addresses Traumatic Injuries among HCP

NIOSH is developing a web-based module to track 3 high risk and preventable types of events that can lead to injuries or musculoskeletal disorders among healthcare personnel (HCP):

1. Patient handling and working in awkward postures (overexertion/ bodily reaction injuries)
2. Slips, trips, and falls
3. Workplace violence.

Initially the OHSN Healthcare Sector Component will focus on these events, but it may be expanded in the future to collect data on additional outcomes of interest, such as contact dermatitis and work-related asthma.

Data Elements of OHSN’s Traumatic Injury Module are designed to answer the following questions (a complete list of data elements is available in the Required Data Elements section):

• Who was involved in the injury event? (occupation category)
• Where did the injury event occur? (department)
• What type of injury event occurred? (e.g., slip, trip, or fall)
• What caused the injury?
• How did the injury happen?
• What is the severity of the injury?
• Could the injury have been prevented?