{'fraction_non_alphanumeric': 0.041191381495564006, 'fraction_numerical': 0.031685678073510776, 'mean_word_length': 5.192156862745098, 'pattern_counts': {'":': 0, '<': 0, '<?xml version=': 0, '>': 0, 'https://': 0, 'lorem ipsum': 0, 'www.': 0, 'xml': 0}, 'pii_count': 0, 'substrings_counts': 0, 'word_list_counts': {'cursed_substrings.json': 0, 'profanity_word_list.json': 0, 'sexual_word_list.json': 0, 'zh_pornsignals.json': 0}}
Poster 019. Work-Related Injuries Among Rural West Virginia Emergency Medical Services Providers

Purpose: To examine hospital hazardous-materials preparedness. Methods: The safety officers of all acute-care hospitals in the five-county Philadelphia metropolitan region received surveys. Questions addressed the ability of EDs to safely decontaminate and treat chemically contaminated patients. Results: Thirty-six of 58 hospitals (62.1%) returned usable surveys. Of these, 25 (69.4%) have a written ED hazmat plan, and 11 (30.6%) conducted a drill of the plan in 1994. Nineteen (52.8%) EDs have a specific treatment area for chemically contaminated patients. A stock of supplies for protecting the ED from secondary contamination is maintained by 16 (44.4%). While 23 (63.9%) EDs store personal protective equipment, most of these involve only gowns, gloves, and surgical masks; only 12 provide any type of respiratory protection. Seven respondents were certain that patients brought in by local EMS would have been decontaminated adequately in the field, eight stated that they believed or felt decontamination would be adequate, and 12 were concerned that field decontamination might not be adequate. Seventeen hospitals (47.2%) reported treating one or more (mean = 2.4) chemically contaminated patients in 1994. We believe the return rate reflects reluctance to commit hospital policies to paper. This was confirmed during telephone follow-up of nonrespondents; for example, one safety officer discussed hazmat principles for 40 minutes, but refused to complete the survey.