Employee Profiles: Sheila Hiller, Employee Health, Infection Control and Safety Nurse
Sheila Hiller is an Employee Health, Infection Control and Safety Nurse for UW Medical Foundation.
As an Employee Health, Infection Control and Safety Nurse, my role at UW Medical Foundation is dedicated to facilitating the health and safety of UW Medical Foundation employees.
I am involved in many aspects of occupational and environmental health and workplace safety. This includes promotion and restoration of health, prevention of injury and illness and protection from work-related and environmental hazards.
There are a variety of activities that I perform to accomplish these objectives, including meeting with new employees to review immunization history, providing vaccinations and performing respirator fit testing. I do follow-up for employees exposed to communicable diseases and blooborne pathogens.
New employee training includes topics such as hazardous chemicals, hazardous drugs, bloodborne pathogens, and injury prevention and body mechanics training. I perform ergonomic evaluations at work sites for new and existing employees. I review employee and patient incident reports, tracking trends and providing recommendations for a safer environment for both employee and patient.
I feel my greatest contributions to UW Medical Foundation are my experience and knowledge in occupational and environmental health and safety. I have more than 22 years of experience in this field. Thus, I'm able to contribute to policy and program development within the department. I am also a resource to employees on a variety of topics such as CDC recommendations and OSHA compliance.
There are three reasons I chose to work at UW Medical Foundation. The first reason was the positive experience I had with the other members of the department during my interview process. Their combined experience and knowledge of the department impressed me. They also are long-term employees with UW Medical Foundation, which represents job satisfaction to me.
The second reason is the variety of work this position offers. This department combines employee health, infection control and safety, which is not typical in other organizations. Also, this position provided an opportunity to work in the area of infection control, which I didn't have a lot of experience in. I saw this as an area I could grow in.
The third reason I chose to work at UW Medical Foundation was the reputation of UW Medical Foundation in the community. UW Medical Foundation is well-known for providing excellent health care and I was excited to be a part of the organization.
My work team consists of four nurses, two assistants and a manager. This is a cohesive team that works well together to accomplish the many tasks involved in a department that combines three specialties. Every team member has strengths in a certain area. This allows for an "expert" within the department to meet the needs of employees. Most of the staff is cross-trained so we are able to provide employees with services in a timely manner.
I became interested in occupational and environmental health and safety because it was a new field that was evolving and changing all the time. There were many opportunities offered in the field both in the manufacturing and health care sectors. I enjoyed the variety and the constant growth potential in the field.