Health care professionals face workplace risks, on-the-job injuries

Jul 23 2013

Also in the news, a report about trends in physicians' educational pursuits.

Medpage Today: Workplace May Be Unsafe For Health Care Professionals
Healthcare workers -- particularly nurses, nurses' aides, orderlies, and attendants -- suffer more musculoskeletal injuries than those working in any other field, a Public Citizen report found. Those injuries cost the U.S. about $7 billion each year, according to the Public Citizen report, which was written by Keith Wrightson and Taylor Lincoln, both of the organization's Congress Watch division. The increased number of on-the-job injuries may be the result of comparatively sparse rates of safety inspections at healthcare facilities, according to 2010 data from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) (Petrochko, 7/19).

Kaiser Health News: Doctors Interested in MBAs Are Increasingly Looking For Traditional Business Programs, Not Health-Care Specific Degrees
When nervous dental patients make their first visit to Dr. Sree Koka, chair of dental specialties at the Mayo Clinic, they may feel calmer after watching his video on YouTube. It answers many of their questions: Is the doctor male or female? Does he speak English? Is he nice? In the video, Dr. Koka introduces himself, cracks a few jokes and suggests what patients should think about for their first appointment. He created the spot while attending MIT's Executive MBA program where he learned the benefits of focusing on personal relationships, not just technical expert (Russo, 7/22).