Winship Oncology & Patient Safety
Focuses on protecting immunocompromised cancer patients from summer specific environmental risks.
What are lakes, rivers, or oceans?
If an intense Atlanta summer thunderstorm causes a sudden power failure, this automated backup system ensures critical care equipment and oncology medication fridges at Winship Midtown stay running.
What are emergency generators?
To maintain facility security and prevent unauthorized access, all Emory Healthcare employees are required to do this with their EHC photo ID badge at all times while on campus.
What is wear it visibly?
Wearing fluid-resistant isolation gowns and heavy PPE over scrubs can trap body heat, drastically accelerating this dangerous condition for busy floor nurses.
What is heat exhaustion or overheating?
Per the standard Emory Healthcare dress code policy, this common summer footwear is completely banned for all staff in clinical areas to protect against chemical or sharp spills.
What are Flip-flops/ Opened-toed shoes?
Due to severe immunosuppression, BMT and leukemia patients at Winship Midtown must completely avoid this popular summer chore, as it kicks up mold spores like Aspergillus from the soil.
What is gardening?
Rather than using outdated color codes, Emory Healthcare uses this explicit, plain-language overhead page to signal severe weather threats like tornadoes or damaging winds.
What is "Facility Alert Severe Weather"?
This is the explicit, plain-language overhead page used at Emory Healthcare to alert staff to a security emergency involving workplace violence or an active threat.
What is "Security Alert"?
To prevent severe dehydration, OSHA recommends that hospital staff working in non-climate-controlled environments drink roughly this volume of water every 15 to 20 minutes.
What is 5 to 7 ounces?
When Emory staff spend their off-days shooting the hooch (tubing or kayaking), this is the number one piece of personal safety equipment required by law.
What is a life jacket?
Many common chemotherapy agents used at Winship Midtown cause this specific skin condition, making strict sunscreen application and sun avoidance mandatory for patients outdoors.
What is photosensitivity?
To protect your cell phone from getting overwhelmed by alerts while staying informed, Emory staff should download this specific university backed mobile app for rapid alerts and safety features.
What is Emory Safe App?
If a patient or visitor exhibits disruptive behavior, Emory staff should utilize this evidence-based, verbal and non-verbal framework taught by EHC to diffuse agitation early.
What is Crisis Prevention Intervention (CPI) / De-escalation?
Saturated, sweaty hands inside nitrile gloves significantly reduce grip friction, meaning Winship staff must exercise extra caution and use mechanical aids during this common physical maneuver.
What is patient transfer?
While hiking in local North Georgia trails over the weekend, staff should wear long clothing to protect against small pest, which acts as the primary vector for Lyme disease.
What is a tick?
Foodborne illness is highly dangerous for neutropenic patients; food brought for summer potlucks in Winship breakrooms must never sit out at room temperature for longer than this maximum timeframe.
What is 2 hours?
If a severe heatwave or utility failure knocks out the main climate control units in a Winship Midtown care wing, facilities will issue this specific plain-language alert.
What is "Facility Alert Utility or Technology Interruption"?
In an active threat situation, Emory public safety guidelines dictate this specific three-word action sequence to ensure survival.
What is "Run, Hide, Fight"?
Because heat fatigue slows down cognitive processing and manual dexterity, hospital staff nationwide experience a statistical surge in this dangerous physical hazard during hot summer shifts.
What are sharps injuries?
Because Atlanta summer heat causes internal vehicle temperatures to turn lethal within a matter of minutes, this is the only safe amount of time to leave a pet or child in a parked car.
What is zero minutes?
This specific type of common backyard insect vector poses a severe risk to Winship patients by transmitting blood-borne pathogens like West Nile or Zika, making patient education on DEET repellent crucial.
What is a mosquito?
If a colleague or visitor faints from heat exhaustion inside the Winship facility, staff must immediately announce this overhead code to activate the rapid medical response team.
What is "Medical Alert Blue Adult"?
The organization’s digital platform for reporting, tracking, and managing safety incidents across the facility.
What is HITS (Healthcare Incident Tracking System)?
If a Winship employee suffers a needlestick or minor occupational injury during a summer shift, they must immediately report it to this specific internal Emory department.
What is Occupational Health Services (OHS)?
Dermatologists at Emory recommend that staff and patients alike apply a broad-spectrum sunscreen with a minimum of this SPF rating before stepping out into the Georgia sun.
What is SPF 30?