Is your hospital safe?

Our plain-English summary of Is your hospital safe?, by A. Converso, S.L. DeMass Martin, S. Markle-Elder (The American Journal of Nursing, 2007).

The study

• Authors: A. Converso, S.L. DeMass Martin, S. Markle-Elder
• Journal: The American Journal of Nursing
• Published: 2007;107(2):37-9
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

In plain English

This article was not a research study. It was a practice and commentary piece by officers and staff of the United American Nurses, AFL-CIO. It described a project in which several labor unions, the United American Nurses and the Environmental Health Education Center at the University of Maryland School of Nursing developed model contract language that unions could bargain into their contracts to address occupational and environmental health hazards in hospitals. The article discussed hazards such as the sterilants ethylene oxide, glutaraldehyde and formaldehyde, PVC and DEHP, pesticides, and mercury, and it gave examples of contract language already in use. One example covered asbestos. Provisions created in 2006 by Jackson Memorial Hospital and Service Employees International Union Local 1991 required the employer to tell employees about known asbestos-containing materials in their work areas and to notify them of scheduled asbestos removal. The employer also had to supply copies of asbestos air monitoring, give nurses near removal work the strongest feasible protection, and post a contact person for asbestos questions. The article reported no data on asbestos exposure levels or disease. The authors concluded that nurses, union members or not, could use these resources to achieve a healthier hospital environment.

We wrote this plain-English summary from the full article with the help of AI, and a second AI model checked each sentence against the article. It is not the authors' wording; the abstract and the article are their own account.

What the study did and found

• Design: Commentary and practice article describing model union contract language. It is not a research study and reports no health data.
• Who was studied: No study population. The article described a collaboration, in what it calls 'last summer', among several labor unions representing nurses and other health care workers, the United American Nurses, AFL-CIO, and the Environmental Health Education Center at the University of Maryland School of Nursing. The project was funded by a nurse outreach grant from Health Care Without Harm.
• Exposure: Hospital hazards discussed in general terms: sterilants (ethylene oxide, glutaraldehyde, formaldehyde), polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and the additive DEHP, pesticides and other chemicals, mercury-containing thermometers and sphygmomanometers, and asbestos-containing materials in hospital work areas, including during asbestos removal.
• Main results:
  • Not a research finding: the article reproduced model asbestos contract language created in 2006 by Jackson Memorial Hospital and Service Employees International Union Local 1991.
  • Under that language, the employer had to inform employees of known asbestos-containing materials in their work areas and notify them of scheduled asbestos removal.
  • The employer also had to supply copies of asbestos air monitoring for the area and ensure the strongest feasible protection for nurses where removal was being performed.
  • The employer had to provide a contact person and phone number for asbestos questions and damage reports, posted throughout the hospital.
  • The article also presented model language on glutaraldehyde (Sparrow Hospital and Michigan Nurses Association/UAN, 2004) and on insecticides and other chemicals (Department of Veterans Affairs and American Federation of Government Employees, 1997).
• The authors' conclusion: The authors concluded that nurses, whether union members or not, can use the resources developed in this project to achieve a healthier hospital environment.

Related studies

• An analysis of OSHA inspections assessing contaminant exposures in general medical and surgical hospitals — J.L. Knight, D.K. Sleeth, et al. (2013)
• Proportionate mortality among unionized roofers and waterproofers — F.B. Stern, A.M. Ruder, et al. (2000)
• "Serving two masters"--an interview with school teacher and union organizer Debra Askwith — M.K. Scammell, E. Rodrigues (2010)
• Asbestos and cancer: an early warning to the British TUC — N.J. Wikeley (1992)
• Asbestos screening and education programs for building and construction trades unions — S. Tillett, P. Sullivan (1993)
• Beyond notification: a case study from Cloquet, Minnesota — M.J. Finendale (1993)

Browse return to medical research.