Answer To: Assessment item 3 - Evaluation of a Clinical Issue Length: 2,000 words This assessment task requires...
Somashree answered on Aug 21 2021
1
Educating patients, clients and the community on infection control in the era of COVID-19
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Table of Contents
Introduction 3
Challenges of infection control during Covid-19 3
Strategies for reducing infection during and after Covid-19 4
Infection control strategies adopted by healthcare workers 5
Contribution of nurses in preventing transmission of infection 6
Nurses’ perspectives on infection prevention in the hospital setting 7
Conclusion 9
References 10
Introduction
The world has witnessed a hiker in the number of Covbif-29 infections in the past few days. The healthcare providers believe that it is the result of not following the basic hygiene procedures designed by WHO. In this regard, the nurses are provided with the responsibility to educate patients and the community on infection prevention and control in this pandemic situation. Therefore, the study highlights the difficulties encountered by the nurses in generating quality education to the people regarding infection prevention and control.
Challenges of infection control during Covid-19
Infection prevention and control is considered to be the highest priority activity for the hospitals along with quality improvement as the pandemic is likely to flare in the coming year. Therefore, interim infection prevention and control advice from CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) is the best place to initiate solutions for the challenges associated with educating patients, clients and workers regarding Covid-19 infection (Reliasmedia, 2020). The CDC daily updates the infection control guidelines for managing Covid-19 patients. Additionally, the infectious disease scientists and physicians have addressed certain challenges concerning infection prevention in the era of the global pandemic in bi-weekly media conferences regarding the pandemic. The scientist highlights that besides educating the patients and clients regarding infection spread, prevention and control of the novel coronavirus, the complete novelty of the virus is another challenge for the healthcare professionals (Purba, 2020). When the first case was reported, the healthcare providers were unaware of the fact that the virus is infectious during the pre-symptomatic period that lasts for about five days.
Gradually, the scientist discovered that the virus is detectable in aerosols and can live up to 24-hours on cardboards, 2-3 days on plastics and stainless steels. For these reasons, it became important for healthcare professionals to educate staff on the significance of wearing masks or PPE on the site (Tsay et al., 2020). Additionally, it is challenging to convince people that even though reliable antibody rests for the virus are present, it is essential to wear masks and maintain respiratory hygiene as the virus has become airborne, as per the latest research works on Covid-19. In this regard, the healthcare professionals, especially the nurses must carefully plan the crisis strategy so that the patients, clients and community are educated on the infection prevention and control for the novel coronavirus.
Strategies for reducing infection during and after Covid-19
Healthcare-associated infections are crucial threats to the healthcare industry and most of the patients are infected during their hospital stay. Campbell et al. (2020) stated that each year more than two million patients are affected by hospital infections in the US that costs approximately $27 billion to $46 billion to the hospitals. In the wake of the pandemic, cash-strained providers focus on preventing hospital-associated infections. Therefore, the nurses have introduced the patients and clients to a wide range of innovative technologies. This ranges from UVC mobile devices that act as disinfection interventions and antimicrobial surface coatings to technologies supporting the evaluation of cleaning such as ATP (Adenosine Triphosphate Bioluminescence). Additionally, to prevent the spreading of infection, the healthcare sector has opted for regular cleaning of spaces, which is monitored by the healthcare staff.
Technology has been introduced to keep the patients safe from infection during the global pandemic by introducing technologies, thereby, enhancing efficacies and saving costs in the long run (Palmore, 2020). The nurses have found an effective technique to educate the community on infection prevention and control. This highlights education on environmental cleaning that can be enhanced through UVC disinfection or similar 'no-touch' technologies for total room decontamination. Moreover, the nurses believe that gaps in the protocol can be identified if smart UVC devices are introduced in the hospitals to decontaminate the surfaces. Technological disinfection is necessary as this helps the nurses to reduce contacts with the patients (Fernandez et al., 2020). However, it is challenging for the community as well as individuals if they are unaware to operate the smart devices.
Education concerning automation for room decontamination must be provided to the patients so that they can efficiently operate the devices without any help. On the other hand, the patients, clients and community must be...