Infection: An Occupational Risk for Healthcare Workers
Given the massive infection crisis facing hospitals worldwide, protecting patients from pathogens is a critical priority.
But what about protecting staff?
Though patients, as a whole, are more vulnerable to infection than the healthy nurses, doctors, and aides who care for them, infection remains an acute occupational hazard for healthcare workers.
Influenza, norovirus, tuberculosis, and Clostridium difficile are among the viral and bacterial illnesses that strike healthcare workers daily—at a tremendous cost to hospitals, patients, and infected staff alike.
“Occupational infections, particularly hospital-acquired infections, are a serious problem in the healthcare industry worldwide.”
— Global Journal of Health Science
Even staff at the cleanest, most advanced European facilities are not immune to viral and bacterial infections. As Hamburg-based researchers concluded, high hygiene standards alone do not eliminate vulnerability in the workplace.
Unsurprisingly, a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report confirmed that healthcare workers face a significantly higher risk for numerous infections than employees in other occupations—transmitted both via contaminated surfaces and airborne particles.
The implications are clear: Hospitals must take more aggressive, innovative, and comprehensive action to protect their staff.
How Healthcare Workers Become Infected on the Job
It takes very little for hospital staff to become infected during routine care—a simple cough or sneeze during intubation or suctioning can launch infectious aerosols into the air.
When a patient has the flu, normal talking or breathing releases airborne particles that can travel across a room and hover for hours. Other pathogens pose even greater airborne and surface risks:
A single vomiting episode by a norovirus patient can release 13,000 viral particles. A healthcare worker can become infected by swallowing just 10 particles.
Because these airborne droplets quickly settle onto nearby surfaces—such as exam tables, toilet handles, and doorknobs—they create long-lasting hazard zones. As microbiologist Lee-Ann Jaykus, Ph.D., notes, norovirus can remain infectious on surfaces for weeks.
Disproportionate Infection Rates Among Staff
During norovirus outbreaks, hospital staff are more than twice as likely as patients to contract the illness:
- Coronary Unit Study: 5% of patients became infected compared to 30% of healthcare workers.
- Psychiatry Unit Study: 16.7% of patients fell ill compared to 38% of staff.
- Emergency Interventions: Among 105 infected healthcare workers in one outbreak, 13 required emergency department visits or hospitalization.
“Healthcare providers must understand that they can become contaminated by their patients and the environment near patients,” cautions Dr. Deverick Anderson, an infection-control expert at Duke University.
Furthermore, staff are increasingly exposed to antibiotic-resistant superbugs. In Austria, epidemiologists tracked a 24-year-old oncology nurse who developed severe diarrhea after caring for three C. difficile patients; genetic testing proved she was infected with the exact same C. difficile strain as her patients.
The Financial and Operational Cost of Staff Illness
Infected healthcare workers represent a major financial drain on healthcare systems through absenteeism and operational disruption:
- Norovirus Outbreak Costs: One American outbreak involving 105 staff members caused severe staffing shortages, admission restrictions, and $650,000 in lost revenue. A similar outbreak at a Swiss hospital resulted in significant lost revenue and sick-leave costs.
- Influenza Costs: An Italian hospital spent €1.7 million annually on expenses related to staff flu illnesses over three seasons, logging thousands of lost workdays.
- Patient Care Impact: High staff absenteeism directly compromises patient care quality and patient satisfaction.
The Hidden Threat: Presenteeism in Healthcare
While absenteeism hurts hospital operations, presenteeism—when ill staff members come to work anyway—poses an even greater safety risk to vulnerable patients and colleagues.
- Physician Survey: Over 50% of Norwegian physicians admitted to working while actively infected.
- CDC Study: More than 40% of healthcare workers reported coming to work with fever, sore throat, or flu-like symptoms.
- Long-Term Care Facility Study: 94% of workers reported working while ill, with 8% reporting vomiting while on duty.
Presenteeism also creates severe reputational damage. When a California maternity-ward nurse was diagnosed with active tuberculosis, headlines nationwide read: “Nurse With Tuberculosis May Have Exposed Over 1,000, Including 350 Infants.”
👉 Read Infection: An Occupational Hazard for Healthcare Workers – Part 2 to discover 4 key steps hospitals can take to minimize workforce infections.