If the agreement is ratified, the union will assume responsibility for about $50 billion in legacy health care costs.
Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa and Rep. Lynn Woolsey of California introduced the bill last week to enable home care workers to obtain overtime pay and the minimum wage.
An international task force met for the first time March 13 in Geneva, Switzerland to tackle the global shortage of health workers. The World Health Organization says a shortfall of 4.3 million health workers exists worldwide, including more than 1 million in Africa. "The simple fact is that the world needs many more health workers," said Dr. Margaret Chan, WHO's director-general. "The world faces global as well as local threats to health. Infectious diseases have staged a dramatic comeback and chronic diseases are on the rise. We cannot improve people's health without staff to deliver health care."
HOSPITAL-acquired (nosocomial) infections are estimated to occur in nearly 10 percent of all acute care hospitalizations. The estimated incidence is more than 2 million cases per year, resulting in an added expenditure in excess of $4.5 billion. Transmission of both normal and pathological microorganisms by the hands of health care workers (HCWs) is one of the main routes of infection spread. Skin microorganisms may be considered resident flora or transient flora.
ASTHMA is an illness characterized by intermittent breathing difficulty including chest tightness, wheezing, cough, and shortness of breath. It is a serious and sometimes fatal condition. Occupational asthma is defined as asthma caused by workplace exposures to biological agents.