A Different Approach for Infection Control from Sick Employees

By Amanda Brown, RN BSN MSM CIC

Recently, we have learned of a hospital that received an Immediate Jeopardy citation by CMS surveyors due to an employee potentially exposing patients to the H1N1 (swine flu) virus.   Other hospitals have reported dealing with an outbreak of the highly contagious Norwalk virus. 

While stressing the importance of infection control practices in the workplace, the CDC’s guidelines for preventing the spread of H1N1 flu virus recommend that sick employees stay away from work and that employers provide flexible leave policies.  

Many hospitals and their employees don’t follow these recommendations.

Besides the social pressures of not calling in sick, hourly employees, especially front line nurses, are penalized by loss of pay if they stay home when sick.   When employees work while sick, other employees and patients are exposed to increased risks, including prolonged hospitalizations and hospital-acquired infections. CMS now adds loss of accreditation or regulatory certification and legal liability to the list of reasons hospital leaders need to review their policies regarding sick employees.  

Transparency and mandatory reporting coupled with increased scrutiny of hospital-acquired infection can only worsen the cost of failing to protect patients from communicable diseases. 

We Recommend a Different Direction:

We think there is a solution for reducing the risks of employees working while sick. Encourage workers who think they may have an infectious disease to be screened by Employee Health (or they could go to their doctor).  If the employee has a communicable disease, they should be sent home with pay (and not use up a sick day).  This approach encourages workers to do the right thing while eliminating fake illnesses. Additionally, the information gathered through this process may also be useful for monitoring disease spread patterns.

While this has a short term cost impact, from a financial, regulatory and patient safety perspective it will produce a long term positive return on the investment.

Filed Under: Clinical Improvement • Compliance Recovery

Tags: Infection control, patient safety