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Volume 11, Number 7—July 2005
Perspective

Occupational Deaths among Healthcare Workers

Kent A. Sepkowitz*Comments to Author  and Leon Eisenberg†
Author affiliations: *Memorial-Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York, USA; †Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Main Article

Table 1

Occupation-specific death rates for US healthcare workers*

Occupation Number employed (× 103) Total deaths Death rate
Emergency medical services 116–170 11 64–95
Physicians 340–820 10 12–29
Registered nurses 2,300 18 8
Technologists and technicians 650 18 28
Home nursing aides, orderlies, and attendants 1,700 13 8

*Rates expressed per 1 million workers. Numbers reflect 3-year average (2000–2002) of violent deaths and do not include infectious causes. Emergency medical services deaths reflect 4-year average (1999–2002) and exclude deaths sustained in the collapse of the World Trade Center towers in 2001. Range of number employed reflects 2 different federal databases (see text) (12,13,16,17).

Main Article

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Page updated: April 23, 2012
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The conclusions, findings, and opinions expressed by authors contributing to this journal do not necessarily reflect the official position of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Public Health Service, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or the authors' affiliated institutions. Use of trade names is for identification only and does not imply endorsement by any of the groups named above.
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