Biological hazards refer to organisms or organic matters produced by these organisms that are harmful to human health. These include parasites, viruses, bacteria, fungi and protein. In general, there are three major of routes of entry for these micro-organisms into our body, i.e. through the respiratory system, transmission through contact with body fluids of the infected or contact with contaminated objects. According to WHO , Among the 35 million health workers worldwide, about 3 million experience percutaneous exposures to bloodborne pathogens each year; two million of those to HBV, 0.9 million to HCV and 170 000 to HIV. These injuries may result in 15 000 HCV, 70 000 HBV and 1000 HIV infections. More than 90% of these infections occur in developing countries The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that each year 385,000 needle sticks and other sharps related injuries are sustained by hospital-based healthcare personnel. Similar injuries occur in other healthcare settings, such as nursing homes, clinics, emergency care services, and private homes....
The main objectives of the pathogen are to gain entry inside the host, once inside grow and reproduce, and avoid host defenses. There are three possible routes of infection: respiratory, alimentary, and traumatic. The respiratory route is the easiest and most direct means of entry. Under crowded conditions, the rate of infection is even more rapid. The diseases brought over to America were mainly spread by the respiratory method. The alimentary pathway of infection is through the ingestion of contaminated food and water. Throughout Europe during the 15th century, food and water were contaminated with fecal matter and by unsanitary habits ( i.e. the lack of bathing). The traumatic route of infection is through insect and animal bites.
HAV is known to be an infectious disease that usually occurs in children and young adults .The disease is usually transmitted from person to person through contaminated food, liquids or oral fecal route. An example would be when someone is carrying the virus and doesn’t wash their hands after using the restroom and then puts food in their mouth. HAV is most common in developing countries because of the living conditions and inadequate water, poor sewage facilities and sanitary conditions. The highest HAV levels in the world are from India,” Earlier reports suggest that India is hyperendemic for HAV infection2,4-6 with very high infection rates,” (Sowmyanarayanan). Most HAV are without severe complications, “Virus HAV infection rarely causes fulminant hepatic failure in people…,” (Vento,p.1) . The symptoms for HAV are high fever, nausea, vomiting and jaundice...
The way in which this problem was able to occur is that because now we have things like hospitals, or other sorts of locations used to aid the public we have now created the opportunity for many people with different illnesses to all accompany each other. This in turn has created a breading ground for bacteria. Thus the more compact the area, like the ER, the more likely to catch some form of illness. Since M.R.S.A. has become too prevalent in the world the likely-hood of people contracting the disease is much higher. Also since it doesn’t require a host for survival, touching contaminated surfaces can transmit it. There have even been instances where hospital staffs accidently were carrying the disease around the hospital on their uniforms. In a study done by Russel Olmsted, 60% of doctors and 65% of nurses were found caring M.R.S.A. on their uniforms. This leads to the risk that every patient they helped or were near during the time they were contaminated are now at risk for the disease (MNT, 2011).
Pathogens are a type of microorganism that spreads viral and bacterial diseases. These diseases when present in human blood and body fluids are known as blood borne pathogens, and can spread from one person to another. (Worcester polytechnic institute) The most serious types of blood borne diseases are the hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV), which can cause liver damage; and HIV (human immunodeficiency virus), which is responsible for causing AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome). The blood borne pathogens can be spread when the blood or body fluids (semen, vaginal fluid, breast milk, and amniotic fluid) of an infected individual comes into contact with mucous membranes or an open sore or cut on the skin of another person. Mucus membranes are located in the eyes, nose, mouth, and other areas as well. ("Bloodborne pathogens: MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia") Two of the most common ways that pathogens are transmitted is through the exchange of fluids during sexual intercourse or by sharing infected IV needles. (Worcester polytechnic institute)
Retained foreign objects have been a major problem throughout operating rooms, labor and delivery, as well as any other procedural area that perform invasive procedures. Retained foreign objects include soft goods, such as sponges, needles, sharps, instruments and other small miscellaneous items used during a procedure (NoThing Left Behind, 2013). The retention of these items can lead to several complications such as a local tissue reactions, infection, obstruction of blood vessels, and even death (Mathias, 2013, p. 2) According to the OR Manager, the effects of a retained surgical item can lead to patients having a increased mortality rate by 2.14%, an increased hospital stay by 2.08 days, and increased hospital costs by $13,315 (Mathias, 2013, p.1). In response to this, NoThing Left Behind was created. NoThing Left Behind is a national surgical safety project that was created as a system wide policy to help prevent the event of a retained surgical item (RSI). This project estimates that there are 1500-2000 retained surgical items left in patients each year within the United States (NoThing Left Behind, 2013). Furthermore, evidence shows that there has been an increase in retained foreign objects left within patients that undergo invasive procedures that occur outside of the operating room and labor and delivery. Therefore, the focus of this paper is to analyze the negative impact, physically, emotionally, and financially, on patients as well as the hospital, related to retained foreign objects during an invasive procedure. The focus is on areas such as the catheterization lab, endoscopy, emergency room, and other bedside procedures where there is no accounting process in place.
Safety is a primary concern in the health care environment, but there are still many preventable errors that occur. In fact, a study from ProPublica in 2013 found that between 210,000 and 440,000 patients each year suffer preventable harm in the hospital (Allen, 2013). Safety in the healthcare environment is not only keeping the patient safe, but also the employee. If a nurse does not follow procedure, they could bring harm to themselves, the patient, or both. Although it seems like such a simple topic with a simple solution, there are several components to what safety really entails. Health care professionals must always be cautious to prevent any mishaps to their patients, especially when using machines or lifting objects, as it has a higher
This literature review will analyze and critically explore four studies that have been conducted on hand hygiene compliance rates by Healthcare workers (HCWs). Firstly, it will look at compliance rates for HCWs in the intensive care units (ICU) and then explore the different factors that contribute to low hand hygiene compliance. Hospital Acquired infections (HAI) or Nosocomial Infections appear worldwide, affecting both developed and poor countries. HAIs represent a major source of morbidity and mortality, especially for patients in the ICU (Hugonnet, Perneger, & Pittet, 2002). Hand hygiene can be defined as any method that destroys or removes microorganisms on hands (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2009). According to the World Health Organization (2002), a HAI can be defined as an infection occurring in a patient in a hospital or other health care facility in whom the infection was not present or incubating at the time of admission. The hands of HCWs transmit majority of the endemic infections. As
Recent research shows that, there are three major means by which infections can be transmitted and they include direct transmission, indirect transmission and airborne transmission (Hinman,Wasserheit and Kamb,1995). Direct transmission occurs when the physical contact between an infected person and s susceptible person takes place (division of public health, 2011). An example is a health care worker who attends to an Ebola patient, without gloves, gown and mask plus forget to wash his or her hand with soap and hot water and or a person having flu without the use of mask or washes his hand after sneezing easily passes the infection to the other through hand shake or surface touch, living the bacteria there for another vulnerable person to also touch if the surface is not disinfected with bleach. Studies makes it clear that, the spreads takes effect when disease-causing microorganisms pass from the infected person to the healthy person through direct physical contact such as touching of blood, body fluids, contact with oral secretion, bites kissing, contact with body lesions and even sexual contact. However, measles and chicken pox are said to be conditions spread by direct
Due to their direct contact with patients, personnel of health care teams are exposed to a higher risk of contracting diseases. Specifically, this risk becomes more potential for dental professional teams if we know that most of the human microbial pathogens are isolated from oral secretions. They can cause serious diseases that might transmit from patients to the personnel, and vice versa (Bednarsh & Molinri, 2010). In 1970 and the early 1980s, result showed the tendency among dental professionals to have more certain infectious diseases than the general public due to their exposure to blood and saliva of their patients (Bednarsh & Molinri, 2010). Disease, such as hepatiti...
Microorganisms are multicellular and unicellular microscopic organisms. Microorganism are all over the world and hold helpful and harmful effects as well. Microorganisms keep the environment sanitary by eliminating pollutants from water and earth, and remove all of the remaining material from dead plant, animals, and humans. ("Bacteria Basics - They Are Alive!" Web. 22 Mar. 2016). These harmful organisms are called germs.. Many disease like chicken pox and cancer are caused by germs. Sicknesses triggered by viruses can easily spread from one person to another. Some of the beneficial things that microorganism do happens to be that In the human body they support the process of digestion and help prevent the possibility
Patient safety must be the first priority in the health care system, and it is widely accepta-ble that unnecessary harm to a patient must be controlled.Two million babies and mother die due to preventable medical errors annually worldwide due to pregnancy related complications and there is worldwide increase in nosocomial infections, which is almost equal to 5-10% of total admissions occurring in the hospitals. (WHO Patient Safety Research, 2009). Total 1.4 million patients are victims of hospital-acquired infection. (WHO Patient Safety Research, 2009). Unsafe infection practice leads to 1.3 million death word wide and loss of 26 millions of life while ad-verse drug events are increasing in health care and 10% of total admitted patients are facing ad-verse drug events. (WHO Patient Safety Re...
(2014) shed light on two key components for infection control, which includes protecting patients from acquiring infections and protecting health care workers from becoming infected (Curchoe et al., 2014). The techniques that are used to protect patients also provide protection for nurses and other health care workers alike. In order to prevent the spread of infections, it is important for health care workers to be meticulous and attentive when providing care to already vulnerable patients (Curchoe et al., 2014). If a health care worker is aware they may contaminate the surroundings of a patient, they must properly clean, disinfect, and sterilize any contaminated objects in order to reduce or eliminate microorganisms (Curchoe et al., 2014). It is also ideal to change gloves after contact with contaminated secretions and before leaving a patient’s room (Curchoe, 2014). Research suggests that due to standard precaution, gloves must be worn as a single-use item for each invasive procedure, contact with sterile sites, and non-intact skin or mucous membranes (Curchoe et al., 2014). Hence, it is critical that health care workers change gloves during any activity that has been assessed as carrying a risk of exposure to body substances, secretions, excretions, and blood (Curchoe et al.,
The infectious category refers to an infectious disease that is caused by a biological agent such as a virus, bacterium or parasite. Infectious diseases are the invasion of a host organism by a foreign replicator, generally microorganisms, often called microbes. Microbes that cause illness are also known as pathogens. The most common pathogens are various bacteria and viruses. An infectious disease is termed contagious if it is easily transmitted from one person to another. An organism that a microbe infects is known as the host for that microbe. In the human host, a microorganism causes disease by either disrupting a vital body process or stimulating the immune system to mount a defensive reaction.
These enemies, also known as biological control agents, include predators, parasitoids and pathogens. Parasitoids are parasites whose larvae develop inside another organism’s body, and an example of a parasitoid is a wasp. A pathogen or infectious agent is a biological agent that causes disease or illness to its victim and it disrupts the normal physiology of the insect pest, an example of a pathogen is bacteria. Predators consume a large number insect pest species over their lifetime.