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ENVIRONMENT OF CARE2012

Mary Ellen Lesperance RN, MSN, CIC, CHSPDirector, Environment of Care, Epidemiology, Safety Officer

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What is the Environment of Care?

• It is the roadmap in our organization of how the environment is managed safely for everyone.

• It is a program that assures that staff and volunteers can do their job, without obstacles or hazards that may cause injury.

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The first of seven plans: Safety Management

1. The Safety Officer and a team assess risks based on information collected from the web based incident reporting system.

2. The team examines work related injuries such as slips, trips and falls, muscle sprains, blood and body fluid exposure, exposures to chemicals

#1 SAFETY MANAGEMENT

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Safety Management

• The most frequent types of employee injury at Karmanos Cancer Center include:sprains slips and falls exposures to chemicals (chemo)

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Injury PreventionEmployees can prevent injury by:• Reporting hazardous conditions such as

uneven flooring• Report wet floors to Environmental

Services department • Always wearing the appropriate

personal protective equipment

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The 2nd plan is Hazardous Materials and Waste Management.Staff can prevent harm by:

• Disposing of medical waste in designated containers

• Placing the trace chemo waste in the yellow containers

•Pharmacy disposes of chemo waste, also called bulk waste chemo waste in the black containers

#2 Hazardous Materials & Waste Management

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The MSDS poster has the phone number for locating chemical information

It is your guide to chemical safety. The MSDS contain basic information on the chemicals like:

• Chemical Identification • Hazardous Ingredients• Fire and Explosive Data• Health Hazards• Spill Response

MDS

#2 Hazardous Materials & Waste Management

MSDS

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Patient Sharps Disposal • Karmanos Cancer Center is not able to

accept used sharps, except those containing chemotherapy.

• Do not accept patients used needles and syringes from home even if they are in a used detergent container or coffee can. Michigan Department of Environmental Quality does not allow sharps from a persons home to be disposed at hospitals.

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Patient Sharps Disposal

• Each patient is given an instruction pamphlet on how to dispose of used medications including sharps.

• Please refer your patient to their local health department to get information on how to dispose of sharps.

• Contact Patient Education for brochures to give to your patient.

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- Be sure to review procedures for the proper use of equipment.

- Immediately take any faulty equipment out of service and call FIXIT or 34948 for repairs.

- Notify your supervisor if the faulty equipment has caused harm to patients or employees.

#4 Medical Equipment Management

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#5 Utilities Management

• All staff shall report any utility failures to their supervisor

• Call FIXIT or 34948 for all utility failures or emergencies

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• Clinical staff must know where the medical gas shut off is in there department. You could be instructed to turn the medical gases off if there is a fire in the department.

• Plug essential equipment into the red outlets if there is a power failure.

#5 Utilities Management

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If a fire does start, you need to know what to do and do it quickly. Remember—stay calm and do the following: (RACE):- Rescue anyone from immediate danger to a safe area past the fire doors.

- Pull the Alarm box nearest you. Contact your operator or security department and give exact location of fire. Sites not located on main campus will call 911.

- Confine the fire. Close all doors.

- Extinguish (put out the fire) with the appropriate fire extinguisher, if you are trained to do so.

#6 Fire Safety Management

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Other Expectations:• DO NOT USE ELEVATORS• LIMIT TELEPHONE USE

You must be able to locate the following:• Nearest extinguishers• Pull alarm boxes• Evacuation plan • Two exit routes in your assigned area

Fire Safety Management

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•Keep your area clean and clutter free•Keep overhead storage at least 18 inches below the ceiling

•Minimize storage

•Do not block hallways. Computers on wheels should not be stored in the hallway. When recharging, place them off to the side of the corridor.

Fire Safety Tips

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Fire Safety Tips

• Do not prop doors open• Keep hallways clear• Do not use personal cooking devices such as toasters & small ovens• Do not overload electrical circuits

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When using an extinguisher:

Remember P A S S -

Pull the pin

Aim low, at the base of the fire

Squeeze the handle

Sweep from side to side at the base of the fire

Fire Safety Management

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Smoke Compartments

During a Code Red, DO NOT pass through doors with this sticker above them unless you are evacuating from the fire area.

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Smoke Compartment

• If there was a fire in a patient care area and you were asked to evacuate patients, you would move patients through the dorr with this sticker above it.

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#7 Emergency Management

• When there is an Emergency Code call on main campus, refer to the flip chart posted in your department for quick reference

• Karmanos Cancer Center has an Emergency Operations Plan, Policy EM 039 that gives instruction on how to manage events that may affect our daily operations.

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• The plan describes the Incident Command System and the function of the Emergency Operations Center sometimes called the EOC.

• Staff are notified of an event through a Fan out process that alerts all managers.

Emergency Management

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Emergency Management

• There are plans in place for 96 hour sustainability or hospital stand alone capabilities.

• These include back up plans for utilities, communications, staff management, patient care, resources and security.

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Emergency Management

• Karmanos Cancer Center partners with vendors and community agencies to share resources if needed.

• We participate in community exercises to prepare for real events such as severe weather, power outages and possible patient evacuation.

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Emergency Management

• The Emergency Management Committee discussing all events and exercise regularly.

• The committee evaluates our readiness, response and recovery for any type of hazard.

• A Hazard Vulnerability Assessment prioritizes which events we should focus on.

• At Karmanos our focus is communication and utility system preparedness.

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As a healthcare worker, you must be alert to the dangers of infection and injury. Making your safety and health a priority is one of the best ways to create a safe and healthy environment for patients and for you!

And above all, apply a healthy dose of common sense to everything you do on the job.

ENVIRONMENT OF CARE SUMMARY