The healthcare sector has a handful of various national days, weeks, and months that pertain to healthcare and healthcare workers alike. Each one of these is significant and deserves the day or days dedicated to its cause.
The month of July is here and the focus is on eye prevention. As a healthcare staffing app, we also want to recognize the emergency department workers that are on the front lines of these types of injuries. The month of July has officially been deemed as National Eye Injury Prevention Month by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. This is due to the statistics of how many suffer from eye injury daily and the importance of spreading awareness to prevent more injuries in the future.
Emergency Healthcare Workers Deal with Eye Injuries Firsthand
The reasons why these national holidays and campaigns pertain to healthcare can vary depending on what exactly it is we’re celebrating or spreading awareness for. In the case of Eye Injury Prevention Month, this month can both protect healthcare workers from sustaining eye injuries of their own and spreads awareness that it is mostly healthcare workers, especially those in the emergency department that end up treating eye injuries sustained by others, due to the fact that a good percentage of eye injury will need urgent treatment or those suffering by it have a high chance of going blind.
Furthermore, with this being known, eye injuries are in fact a particularly common cause of many attendances to the ER. This is why typically so many ER nurses and workers are the ones that treat these injuries. As to why these attendances are so common, there are about 2000 incidents pertaining to eye injury each day, with nearly 800 thousand eye injuries occurring on the job each year. A whopping 36,000 of the workers that sustain an eye injury from work will require time off work to heal and recover. These injuries are detrimental to those suffering from them, as well as the companies that in turn lose workers from these types of injuries. These injuries, according to the Department of Labor, are the cause of a loss of around $300 million annually as a result of loss in production time and medical expenses.
Although many eye injuries are sustained by those at work, such as working in a factory, they can also be sustained by those simply working at home such as cleaning or partaking in carpentry. As you may have guessed, the term eye injury itself is very broad, as there are heaps of different ways that your eyes can be harmed. The most common injuries to happen to workers are striking or scraping, penetration, and chemical or thermal burns. ER Workers treat these among many other types of eye injuries that can occur.
How to Prevent Eye Injuries
However, as we continue on, you most likely would wish to know how exactly to prevent eye injuries from occurring. Many workplaces and facilities have now put strict guidelines in place to prevent eye and other injuries, however, some may still overlook this, as well as those working in their own home, may think they don’t need to take the proper precautions and will be fine. This is not the case at all, as about half of eye injuries actually take place at home. Simply due to the fact that at home, many choose not to take the necessary precautions as they feel safe being at home.
When working in your home such as cleaning and using household chemicals, be sure to read labels and instructions thoroughly to ensure you are using the products properly, as well as always work in well-ventilated areas when using potentially hazardous chemicals. Furthermore, when using a household chemical that has a spray nozzle, always be sure to point the nozzle away from you, even if you are just carrying it around. A majority of these chemicals are incredibly hazardous and can even permanently destroy the surface of our eyes, which results in blindness. Additionally, another home activity, although taking place outside, is gardening. When you are working in your garden and using a lawnmower or similar machinery, be sure to wear protective eyewear, as particles from grass and other plants could easily get into and damage your eyes.
Overall, when working in dangerous environments or around hazardous chemicals, always wear protective eyewear among other gear if necessary, and never point dangerous objects towards your eyes or face. Taking these simple precautions at home and in your workplace can prevent around 90% of eye injuries that happen annually. Be sure to always remember these safety precautions as well as spread awareness for these situations as we at NursaTM do the same.
