Free Safety e-Newsletters

Emergency Management Alert Hospital Safety Connection Infection Control Weekly Monitor OSHA Healthcare Connection

Hospital Safety Connection

Stay on top of hospital safety requirements and best practices with our free, fast-paced weekly update.

Subscribe »

2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003

Hospital Safety Connection

Issue 50, December 28, 2004

• Hospital worker burned to death in electrical fire

  A Winter Park (FL) Memorial Hospital worker suffered burns to 97% of his body and died last week in...

• Gruesome double murder at French hospital scares staff

  Hospital staff at Pyrenees Hospital Centre in Pau, France, discovered the bodies of two nurses last...

Issue 49, December 20, 2004

• Nurse attack prompts increased security

  An attack on a nurse last week has prompted an increase in security at Community Hospital South in...

• Electrical bed possible source of deadly fire

  An electrical bed may be the culprit from a Nashville nursing home fire that killed 14 people last...

Issue 48, December 9, 2004

• Unlabeled container proves deadly for Seattle hospital patient

  An unlabeled bottle of antiseptic cleanser killed a patient during a procedure on November 23 at...

• Patient pleads guilty to knife attack against nurse

  A patient at Bons Secours Maryview Medical Center in Portsmouth, VA, pleaded guilty last week to...

Issue 47, December 9, 2004

• Man allegedly slashes hospital diabetes patient

  A man dragged a diabetes patient into a restroom at Metropolitan Hospital in New York last week and...

• Dryer ignites hospital fire

  An early-morning fire broke out last week at Harris Methodist Hospital in Fort Worth, TX, channel...

Issue 46, November 18, 2004

• Hospital worker dies from sterilizer burns

  A worker at Regions Hospital in St. Paul, MN, died on November 5 after becoming trapped in a...

• Restraint strangles, kills hospital patient

  A stroke patient at Bayfront Medical Center in St. Petersburg, FL, died on November 7 after she...

Issue 45, November 10, 2004

• Blue powder closes hospital ER

  A patient’s exposure to a mysterious blue powder shut down a Greenville (SC) hospital’s...

• Minnesota hospital increases ER screening

  St. Cloud (MN) Hospital boosted security this week in its emergency room (ER), the St. Cloud Times...

Issue 44, November 4, 2004

• Hospital’s broken fridge spoils flu vaccine

  West Allis (WI) Memorial Hospital lost nearly 1,900 flu vaccine doses when a refrigerator broke...

• Former hospital employees stole and sold medical equipment

  Virginia police arrested two former hospital employees last week and charged them with stealing...

Issue 43, November 1, 2004

• Flu vaccines go missing at Maine hospital

  Maine Medical Center officials reported 100 missing doses of the flu vaccine last week to police...

• January trial set for hospital accused of burning baby

  A January trial is set for a couple who sued a suburban Detroit hospital seven years ago after...

Issue 42, October 22, 2004

• Flu vaccine shortage increases ER fears

  Emergency room doctors anticipate overwhelming problems with sick and elderly patients this season...

• Some Chicago hospitals ban videotaping baby deliveries

  Some Chicago area hospitals no longer allow families to videotape baby deliveries, citing hospital...

Issue 41, October 15, 2004

• EPA New England plans to increase healthcare facility enforcement

  The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) New England office plans to beef up enforcement...

• Resident accused of starting nursing home fire

  Forty nursing home residents in Phoenix evacuated last week after a resident allegedly set the...

Issue 39, September 29, 2004

• Latest hurricane damages hospital roof

  Martin Memorial Medical Center in Stuart, FL, lost part of its roof as Hurricane Jeanne raged...

• Latest hurricane damages hospital roof

  Martin Memorial Medical Center in Stuart, FL, lost part of its roof as Hurricane Jeanne raged...

• Florida hospital safety difficult to track

  Patients at Sarasota (FL) Memorial Hospital are concerned about their safety and have criticized...

Issue 37, September 15, 2004

• Controversy surrounds girl missing from hospital

  After the University of North Carolina Hospital began looking for a missing two-year-old girl...

• Hepatitis scare blamed on unsanitary hospital

  More than 2,000 California hospital patients may have been exposed to hepatitis B and C, due to...

Issue 36, September 8, 2004

• Proposed lift teams to help hospital workers

  Union nurses at the University of California-San Francisco Medical Center picketed last week as...

• Florida hospitals handle another hurricane

  Florida healthcare facilities moved patients to safer locations last week to prepare for Hurricane...

Issue 35, September 3, 2004

• Children’s hospital evacuates after minor fire

  A minor fire at Nashville’s Vanderbilt Hospital on August 29 prompted a partial evacuation...

• Phony hospital safety official pleads guilty

  A Virginia man accused of using fake credentials to inspect hospital radiation units pleaded guilty...

Issue 33, August 17, 2004

• Hurricane strains hospital emergency rooms

  Florida hospital emergency rooms were flooded with new patients from nursing homes without power...

Issue 32, August 13, 2004

• Fire forces evacuation of recovering patient

  A fire in a Peterborough District Hospital operating room in England this week forced the...

• Inability to meet safety codes close MN assisted living centers

  Four assisted-living homes in Duluth and Saginaw, MN, will close their doors by August 30, the...

Issue 31, August 6, 2004

• Hospital roof work causes small fire

  Work on a new roof caused a small fire Monday night at Nipawin Hospital in Canada, the Nipawin...

Issue 30, July 28, 2004

• U.S. medical mishaps kill 195,000 people a year

  A HealthGrades report released this week revealed that about 195,000 people die every year in the...

• Disease-causing bacteria found in hospital water

  Tests of water from Saint Joseph Regional Medical Center in South Bend, IN, revealed traces of the...

Issue 28, July 16, 2004

• Los Angeles hospital in trouble after surgery glitch

  Surgeons at Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center in Los Angeles mistakenly left a metal clamp...

• Hospital security officer kills attacker

  A security officer at a North Carolina hospital shot and killed the father of a teenage girl in...

Issue 27, July 9, 2004

• Patients sue KY hospital

  Twenty former patients at the Jewish Hospital in Kentucky filed lawsuits this week claiming...

• Bullet strikes PA hospital

  A bullet went through a window and lodged in the wall of Doylestown (PA) Hospital on July 6...

Issue 23, June 15, 2004

• Hospital safety lapses lead to thousands of children's deaths

  Researchers in a new study concluded that lapses in hospital safety account for the deaths of...

• Patient-safety initiatives take shape in NC hospitals

  A number of North Carolina hospitals are currently undergoing patient-safety initiatives, The...

Issue 22, June 15, 2004

• Hospital bomb scare forces ER evacuation

  A New Orleans hospital evacuated part of its emergency room and closed a street for nearly three...

• Inspector raised safety issues about CA hospital a year ago

  A state inspector raised concerns about sanitation and patient safety at a Rancho Cucamonga, CA...

Issue 21, May 28, 2004

• CA temporarily closes hospital because of safety violations

  The California Department of Health Services ordered the Angels Medical Center in Rancho Cucamonga...

• CT couple charged after trying to remove baby from hospital

  A couple was arrested May 18 after attempting to leave the William W. Backus Hospital in Norwich...

Issue 20, May 19, 2004

• CA hospital fined for violations leading to physician's slaying

  John George Psychiatric Pavilion in San Leandro, CA, faces $54,000 in fines levied by state...

• Hospital fire forces evacuation of patients

  A May 12 fire on the roof of Grand River Hospital in Kitchener, Ontario, forced the evacuation of...

Issue 19, May 13, 2004

• Patients evacuated after MI hospital fire

  Holland (MI) Community Hospital evacuated patients from its behavioral health unit May 10 after a...

• Crews respond to chemical spill at MI hospital

  Hazmat crews responded May 11 to Lakeland Hospital in Niles, MI, to help contain a chemical spill...

Issue 16, April 21, 2004

• Proposed biosafety lab faces neighborhood opposition

  A controversial bioresearch lab proposed for the south end of Boston drew hundreds of people to a...

• Police say custodian lived in hospital and stole items

  An employee at Four Winds Hospital in Syracuse began secretly living at the facility several months...

Issue 15, April 14, 2004

• Smallpox vaccine maker stops recruiting test volunteers

  Biodefense contractor Acambis PLC said April 13 it would stop recruiting people to test a smallpox...

• Hospital worker allegedly sold guns, drugs from facility

  Bellevue Hospital Center in New York failed to perform a required background check before hiring a...

Issue 14, April 7, 2004

• Newborn abducted from KY hospital found in alley

  A day-old baby girl with respiratory problems who was taken from her mother's Stanford, KY...

• Woman charged with abduction after posing as hospital worker

  A Salt Lake City woman posing as a hospital employee on March 29 allegedly abducted an infant from...

Issue 13, March 31, 2004

• Unannounced inspection cites 'safety risk' at Texas VA hospital

  A Temple, TX, veterans hospital is addressing a variety of problems found during a December...

• Surgical tool believed to cause OR fire

  A hot surgical tool was the likely source of an operating-room fire that seriously injured a...

Issue 12, March 24, 2004

• Tennessee fire-safety bill signed into law

  Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen on March 18 signed into law a bill requiring nursing homes to tell...

• Woman will appeal jury award over nursing home death

  A jury on March 17 awarded $136,000 to the daughter of a woman whose 82-year-old mother was stung...

Issue 11, March 17, 2004

• Government to acquire experimental anthrax vaccine

  The federal government plans to stockpile enough doses of an experimental anthrax vaccine to...

• Trial pending for woman accused of posing as nurse to abduct baby

  A Missouri judge on March 15 ordered a Kansas City woman held for trial in the abduction of a...

Issue 10, March 10, 2004

• Lab worker's discarded match causes FL hospital fire

  Officials blamed a carelessly discarded match for a fire that caused about $100,000 in damage to a...

• Guelph, ON, facilities put on alert after nearby chemical spill

  A chemical spill at a food plant on March 5 in Guelph, ON, put two healthcare facilities in the...

Issue 9, March 3, 2004

• Tennessee lawmakers pass fire safety notification bill

  The Tennessee state House of Representatives on March 1 approved a bill that would require nursing...

• Iowa hospital's new maternity center features high-tech security

  University of Iowa Hospitals' new $18.8 million maternity center and neonatal intensive care unit...

Issue 8, February 25, 2004

• Newborn discovered in NY hospital bathroom

  An abandoned newborn girl was found alive in the bathroom of a Staten Island hospital February 24...

• Woman dies after assault at assisted-living home

  Police in Winston-Salem, NC, are investigating the February 13 death of a 90-year-old woman who was...

Issue 7, February 18, 2004

• Lawsuit alleges nurse caused woman's death

  A man who believes a nurse intentionally caused his mother's death filed a lawsuit on February 17...

• Fire closes emergency room at Wisconsin hospital

  A fire in an x-ray room at Waukesha (WI) Memorial Hospital at about 7:10 a.m. on February 16 forced...

Issue 6, February 17, 2004

• LTC resident fatally scalded in bath

  A three-week investigation by Capital Health in Edmonton, Alberta, found that a 90-year-old woman...

• Investigation focuses on death of nursing home resident

  Several city and state agencies began investigations last week into the death of a Queens, NY...

Issue 5, February 17, 2004

• Newborn returned after being abducted from hospital

  A newborn boy taken from a Windsor, ON, hospital is safe after his father turned him over to police...

• MA orders nursing homes to work harder to prevent violence

  Massachusetts public health officials on February 3 ordered nursing homes to better protect their...

Issue 4, January 28, 2004

• Nurses face murder charges in jailed teen's death

  Nurses face murder charges in jailed teen’s death

• Montreal hospital fields 10,000 calls about surgeon with HIV

  Montreal hospital fields 10,000 calls about surgeon with HIV

Issue 3, January 28, 2004

• Elder care center fire kills two

  Elder care center fire kills two

• OSHA fines CT hospital for workplace violations

  OSHA fines CT hospital for workplace violations

Issue 2, January 15, 2004

• OSHA to impose respiratory standard on health care facilities

  OSHA to impose respiratory standard on health care facilities

• Swiss nurse admits to killing 25 nursing home patients

  Swiss nurse admits to killing 25 nursing home patients

Issue 1, January 13, 2004

• Philippines declares woman free of SARS

  Philippines declares woman free of SARS

• Officials link fifth patient death to nurse

  Officials link fifth patient death to nurse

Issue 18, May 5, 2004

• Resident of nursing home dies

  A resident of the A. Holly Patterson Geriatric Center nursing home in Uniondale, NY, died May 2...

• Former nurse pleads guilty to committing murders

  A former nurse on April 29 pleaded guilty to committing at least 14 murders with lethal injections...

Issue 55, February 23, 2004

• Fire Prevention and Protection

  Fire Prevention and Protection

Issue 1, July 14, 2004

• Waiting room protection hinges on whether there’s a door

  It’s common for healthcare facilities to provide waiting rooms that people can find off of...

• Regulations on separating policies and procedures

  Either format is OK. I've seen this work both ways. Develop a way to educate staff about any...