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Learning theories and their implications to education
Reflection on infection control
Reflection on infection control
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The Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) Program is an essential force maximizing quality, patient centered care, and safety throughout the Veterans Affairs North Texas Health Care System (VANTHCS). The VANTHCS “... is a progressive health care provider in the heart of Texas ... we serve more than 117,000 Veterans and deliver 1.4 million outpatient episodes of care each year to Veterans in 38 Texas counties and two counties in southern Oklahoma” (“VA North Texas,” 2016, para. 1). The purpose of the IPC Program is to guide a facility-wide approach toward identifying, preventing, controlling, and eliminating healthcare-associated infections (HAIs). This approach is facilitated through infection control (IC) practitioner’s role-modeling behaviors of assessing, supporting, guiding, and/or directing healthcare providers (HCPs) in the application of evidence-based practices (EBPs) to prevent HAIs. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), HAIs are often preventable adverse events that pose a major threat to patient safety (“Centers for Disease,” 2016). As a result, IC practitioners recognize the importance of preparing nurse faculty to engage clinical staff in the application of EBPs to prevent infections. IC Model Overview and Purpose The IC Model will be designed to prepare nurse faculty to teach clinical staff the fundamental principles of IPC focusing on the chain of infection (COI), transmission routes, standard precautions, transmission-based precautions, donning/doffing of personal protective equipment (PPE), and post-exposure management (PEM) procedures. The purpose of the IC Model is to provide faculty a comprehensive overview of IPC strategies based upon scientific evidence, which can be incorporate... ... middle of paper ... ...attern depict Kolb’s four-stages of continuous learning. Whereas, the five red arrows in the center of the model indicate faculty’s desire to progress from that of a novice to an expert. Cooley and De Gagne (2016) suggest that novice faculty often face significant challenges teaching other’s due to their lack of experiences. According to the author’s, novice faculty must strive to acquire a vast amount of new knowledge, which requires sufficient time, guidance, and support to progress from that of a novice to an expert clinician (Cooley & De Gagne, 2016). By integrating Kolb’s and Benner’s theories, IC practitioners are promoting a continuous process of learning to support faculty’s movement from that of novice by way of engaging in concrete experiences, reflective observation, and active experimentation in order to gain clinical expertise (Benner, 1982; Kolb, 1984).
Research shows that when healthcare facilities, care teams, and individual doctors and nurses are aware of infection problems, and take specific steps to prevent them, rates of some targeted HAIs can decrease by more than 70%. Participation in an ongoing system, established for monitoring and consumer reporting of health outcome data, [has resulted in] reduced rates of HAI, improved hospital outcomes, and reduced mortality, overtime. [For example / Studies have reported that,] compared to states with no reporting requirement, those units in states with voluntary reporting systems or with longer periods of mandatory reporting experience had higher infection rates at baseline and/[but] greater reductions in HAIs within six months. [That said / Still,] the challenge remains [however,] that [state legislation / current practices] varies widely regarding which HAIs to measure and report, how the data are collected and analyzed, and the public availability of disclosed
The significant increase in antibiotic resistance amongst pathogens is making it very difficult to successfully treat infections, especially in intensive care units (ICU’s). Prevention of the spread of infection among patients within the hospitals is fast becoming amongst the most important methods for controlling infections. This requires the identification of the different acquisition routes, that is, routes by which bacterial colonization occurs. In this article, the authors analyzed the relative importance of various bacterial acquisition routes that resulted in colonization of the bacteria using data from individual patients.[1] This article was chosen because of the impact it can have on the healthcare system if the knowledge obtained from the algorithm regarding the most prevalent colonization routes in hospitals can help in the preventing spread of infections. Also the ability of the algorithm to incorporate specific patient characteristics makes it both novel and appealing.
Kleinpell RM, Munro CL, Giuliano KK. Targeting Health Care–Associated Infections: Evidence-Based Strategies. In: Hughes RG, editor. Patient Safety and Quality: An Evidence-Based Handbook for Nurses. Rockville (MD): Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (US); 2008 Apr. Chapter 42. Available from: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK2632/
Scott II, D. R. (2009). The direct medical costs of healthcare-associated infections in U.S. hospitals and the benefits of prevention. Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/HAI/pdfs/hai/Scott_CostPaper.pdf
The purpose of his article was to find a better way to prevent healthcare-associated infections (HCAI) and explain what could be done to make healthcare facilities safer. The main problem that Cole presented was a combination of crowded hospitals that are understaffed with bed management problems and inadequate isolation facilities, which should not be happening in this day and age (Cole, 2011). He explained the “safety culture properties” (Cole, 2011) that are associated with preventing infection in healthcare; these include justness, leadership, teamwork, evidence based practice, communication, patient centeredness, and learning. If a healthcare facility is not honest about their work and does not work together, the patient is much more likely to get injured or sick while in the
Prevention of hospital-acquired infections: review of non-pharmacological interventions. Journal of Hospital Infection, 69(3), 204-219. Revised 01/20 Haugen, N., Galura, S., & Ulrich, S. P. (2011). Ulrich & Canale's nursing care planning guides: Prioritization, delegation, and critical thinking. Maryland Heights, Mo. : Saunders/Elsevier.
This essay witnesses my personal learning and teaching style and strategy. I aim to set forth the aspects of teaching and learning that I find help me become a better health care professional. Three of the major learning theories are discussed in order to find the skill sets that each bring to the table. By choosing the skills required in a clinical environment we can pick the required strategy accordingly. I believe that a unique combination of the tree theories where each is able to play to its strength and overshadow its weaknesses is the best teaching-learning strategy.
Healthcare-associated infections are a big issue in hospitals. They are the highest cause of morbidity and mortality rates in hospitalized patients. Due to increasing prevention methods, there has been a decrease in infections, but there is still a way to go. In detail, common infections are central line-associated bloodstream infections, catheter care urinary tract infections, surgical site infections and transmission of Clostridium difficile.
Through education, I will teach patients the importance of vaccinations, hand washing, and body hygiene. To prevent the spread of infection, I will implement my standard precautions and any isolation precautions that my patients are ordered. Standard precaution, a set of infection control practices used to prevent transmission of diseases, include personal protective equipment, needle safety, patient care equipment, and most importantly, hand hygiene. These standard precautions should be used with every patient encountered, as the most basic level of infection control. At an injury site, whether it be surgical or trauma, I will monitor and assess for signs of infection, such as: redness, yellow/green pus, swelling, tenderness, pain, warmth, and fever. When caring for patients, who already have an infection, I will monitor for signs of sepsis - fever, hypotension, increased heart rate, elevated blood glucose, confusion, and thrombocytopenia. Infections can occur to any individual, often standing as a diagnosis for patients. It is my job as the nurse to prevent infections, assess and monitor for deviations, and treat the infection when given
Reflection has its importance in clinical practice; we always seek to be successful and that can be achieved by learning every day of our life through experiences we encounter. In that way we can reconsider and rethink our previous knowledge and add new learning to our knowledge base so as to inform our practice. Learning new skills does not stop upon qualifying; this should become second nature to thinking professionals as they continue their professional development throughout their careers (Jasper, 2006). According to Rolfe et al. (2001), reflection does not merely add to our knowledge, it also challenges the concepts and theories by which we try to make sense of that knowledge. Acquiring knowledge through reflection is modern way of learning from practice that can be traced back at least to the 1930s and the work of John Dewey, an American philosopher and educator who was the instigator of what might be called ''discovery learning'' or learning from experience. He claimed that we learn by doing and that appreciating what results from what we do leads to a process of developing knowledge, the nature and importance of which then we must seek to interpret (Rolfe et al., 2001).
...s and measurement to decrease healthcare- associated infections. American Journal Of Infection Control, pp. S19-S25. doi:10.1016/j.ajic.2012.02.008.
Stage 2 of Kolb’s 1984 four-stage Experiential Learning Model, involves reflective observation of an experience. The cycle treats reflection as an imperative part of learning. Upon reflection of the patient counselling scenario, I have realised that actually experiencing an event, rather than simply observing, has proven effective in my learning. This is supported by Bonwell and Eison (1991) who discuss how active learning is important in aiding student education.
(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.,
Infection control is very important in the health care profession. Health care professionals, who do not practice proper infection control, allow themselves to become susceptible to a number of infections. Among the most dreaded of these infections are: hepatitis B (HBV), hepatitis C (HCV), and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Another infection which has more recently increased in prevalence is methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). These infections are all treated differently. Each infection has its own symptoms, classifications, and incubation periods. These infections are transmitted in very similar fashions, but they do not all target the same population.
Avoiding infection or, at least, breaking the chain of transmission is vital in any setting, but more so in healthcare environments where infections and vulnerable hosts are moving under the same roof. What needs to be done, then?