Employees at state-run nursing homes and hospitals suffer from the highest rates of on-the-job injuries in the nation. The numbers are so high that they even surpass those of construction and policing, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Approximately 35% of on-the-job injuries are caused by machine accidents annually, but working in a hospital doesn’t often include machine incidents.
Approximately 12 out of 100 hospital employees suffered non-fatal on-the-job injuries when compared with only eight out of every 100 who work in construction.
Caring for the elderly and sick can be difficult in its own right, but state-owned hospitals often make the job even more difficult, as they are more likely to receive patients who may act out violently, according to a report from the Government Accountability Office released earlier this year.
Workers in privately-owned hospitals and nursing homes have a much lower risk of being injured on the job, but even their rate of 6.8 out of every 100 workers is higher than the standard rate of 3.3 across all major industries.
“Workplace violence rates in health care and social assistance agencies have been increasing at an especially alarming rate,” according to an April AFL-CIO report.
However, physical injury isn’t the only thing on hospital workers’ minds.
Prince George’s NICU has been closed for the second time as a result of another bacterial outbreak in the facility.
Two infants in the neonatal intensive care unit recently tested positive for bacterium Pseudomonas.
The same bacterium was found in the NICU’s water supply in August, which also prompted a closing.
This time around, five infants had to be transferred out as a precaution.
Less than a month after officially reopening the NICU, the latest outbreak has left many outraged.
“Sad and mad, innocent children, innocent children that didn’t even ask to be here,” said one woman.
At this point, the hospital isn’t sure what the source of the bacterial outbreak is. Injured workers are the least of this Maryland hospital’s issues at the moment.
