Minority workers: educational models for workers, health providers, and planners

1. The Labor Occupational Health Program's (LOHP) experience with occupational health problems in minority communities demonstrates that information on a client's past work history and occupational exposures is essential in providing comprehensive health care. Occupational health histories are an excellent tool to utilize in community health. 2. Community clinics and primary health care professionals are integral components in health care delivery services. 3. The occupational health professional has a unique opportunity to provide leadership in educating community health providers about the basics of occupational health.     

A comparison of substance use rates among female nurses, clerical workers and blue-collar workers

The issue of impairment of practising professional nurses by alcohol and other drugs has become a critical concern since the 1980s The literature abounds with conjectures about the large numbers of nurses who are impaired, often without valid data to support the claims that the problem in nursing is greater than it is in the general population This study reflects an effort to compare the reported substance use of employed female nurses with that of two other groups of working females Survey data from 920 nurses, 405 clerical workers and 200 females employed in non-traditional trades jobs in two large eastern states in the US revealed that there was little evidence of 'abuse' of any of 15 substances, nurses did not report higher rates of substance use than the other two groups, and most reported substance use occurred in the younger age groups, reflecting the national trend The need for continuing research efforts and confirmation of valid data, and primary prevention efforts with young female workers, including at-risk student nurses, is made evident     

Migration of health workers

The discussion and debate stimulated by these papers focused across a range of issues but there were four main areas of questioning: "measuring" and monitoring migration (issues related to comparability, completeness and accuracy of data sets on human resources); the impact of migration of health workers on health systems; the motivations of individual health workers to migrate (the "push" and "pull" factors) and the effect of policies designed either to reduce migration (e.g "self ufficiency") or to stimulate it (e.g active international recruitment). It was recognised that there was a critical need to examine migratory flows within the broader context of all health care labour market dynamics within a country, that increasing migration of health workers was an inevitable consequence of globalisation, and that there was a critical need to improve monitoring so as to better inform policy formulation and policy testing in this area.     

护工的管理与培养

我院为一所老年病专科医院，我科为综合性内科，开放床位30张，在编护士12人，2008年上半年总收治患者278例，其中70岁以上患者207例，约占患者总数的74．5％。由于大多数为高龄老年患者，长期患有慢性疾病，都存在生活自理能力下降或丧失的问题，增加了护理工作量，为了缓解护理工作压力，聘任了护工。如何管理和培养护工，使其充分发挥辅助作用，在老年疾病发生、发展、转归过程中起着不可忽视的重要作用，影响着老年患者生活质量及治疗护理效果。因此，加强护工的管理，充分发挥其辅助作用是重要的护理工作。现结合临床工作，简要介绍一下护工的辅助作用及管理方法，目的在于引起人们对护工工作的重视，从而更好的提高护理质量，服务于老年患者。     

Health care workers

More people are employed in the health care sector than in any other industry in the United States. Health care workers are exposed to a wide variety of hazards, including biological, chemical, physical and psychological stressors. Concerns about exposure to contagious diseases such as HIV, Hepatitis B and C, and tuberculosis have influenced the career choices of many health professionals. Physical hazards, especially ergonomic ones, account for the majority of the disability faced by health care workers. Chemical exposure and psychosocial stresses are also present in health care institutions. The exposure encountered in health care facilities is potentially dangerous to health care workers as well as to their family members and unborn children.