Assessment
Keeping our hands clean is a significant precaution everyone should take to avoid spreading germs and to prevent illness. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention article, Handwashing: Clean Hands Save Lives, (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , 2013) it states, “Handwashing is like a "do-it-yourself" vaccine.” Nurses are in a perfect position to teach handwashing to anyone; including patients, family, and friends. Improper hand hygiene is responsible for the spread of germs and sickness as well. It is never too late to learn and develop good habits to ensure prevention of illness. Because of this the teaching subject of this paper was an individual with a dehisced abdominal wound. He was responsible for changing the wet and dry dressings on his wound after discontinuation of a negative pressure wound therapy device. The subject is a 22 year old Caucasian male from a middle-class American family, in which he has a strong relationship with. He falls within Erikson’s growth and developmental stage of Intimacy versus Isolation. The young man is involved in a romantic relationship and is a bit self conscious of his incision and the scar that will remain. He is concerned about proper healing of the wound and prevention of infection. The subject shows interest in learning proper techniques and prevention measures to ensure against this possibility. The composer of this paper hopes to teach by demonstrating the proper approach to aid him in his current circumstance, as well as the importance of the subject at hand and have him mirror the technique. To assess the need for learning, he was asked several questions about his hand washing practices. This individual had a basic understanding that...
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...rn the water off should definitely be addressed, although this client caught on to what was included in the video provided. In conclusion, all teaching goals were met and this young man felt that he learned valuable, pertinent information to aid him in prevention of infection and he demonstrated techniques that would suggest this as well.
Works Cited
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2013, December 16). Handwashing: Clean hands save lives. Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/handwashing/
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2013, December 11). Handwashing: Clean hands save lives, how should you wash your hands?. Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/handwashing/when-how-handwashing.html
National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases (NCEZID) (2008). Put your hands together [Web]. Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/cdctv/handstogether/
Clinical Infectious Diseases, 49(3), 438-443. Doi:10.1086/600391. See full address and map. Medicare.gov/Hospital Compare - The Official U.S. Government Site for Medicare (n.d).
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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
During patients education there are a host of other things to be explained to the patient in order to increase the patient’s awareness. According to Noble 2009, educating patient on the reason for the use of personal protectiveequipment will increase their awareness and the need for active involvement in the reduction of the spread of MRSA. Other information to be explained to the patient includes hand hygiene explanation of colonization and the scientific rationale for every item explained to the patient.
Khamsi, R. (2013, May 31) How Safe Is Recreational Marijuana. Scientific American. Retrieved from http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=how-safe-recreational-marijuana
“Failure to attend to hand hygiene has serious consequences: it has a negative effect on patient safety and the quality of patients’ lives, as well as on their confidence in healthcare delivery. However, the prevalence of hand hygiene omission is still high” (Canadian Disease Control, 2016 p 1). Washing hands before and after patient contact seems like a simple solution to prevent the spread of bacteria between patients. But it is not as simple as it seems.According to new CDC data, “approximately one in 25 patients acquires a health care-associated infection during their hospital care, adding up to about 722,000 infections a year. Of these, 75,000 patients die from their infections ( CDC, 2016 p 1).” Leaving a finacial burden on Canada’s health care
...s - Fact Sheet." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 22 Feb. 2011. Web. 08 Apr. 2014.
McCandless, S. G. (2014). Top 5 Health Benefits of Owning a Pet: Animal Planet. Retrieved from http://www.animalplanet.com/pets/benefits-of-pets.htm
...enters for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 10 Dec. 2012. Web. 6 Dec. 2013.
Whitby, M., Pessoa-Silva, C., Mclaws, M., Allegranzi, B., Sax, H., Larson, E., Seto, W., Donaldson, L. & Pittet, D. (2007). Behavioural considerations for hand hygiene practices: the basic building blocks. Journal Of Hospital Infection, 65 (1), pp. 113-114. 1--8.
(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.,
“Researchers in London estimate that if everyone routinely washed their hands, a million deaths a year could be prevented” (“Hygiene Fast Facts”, 2013, p. 1). Hands are the number one mode of transmission of pathogens. Hands are also vital in patient interaction, and therefore should be kept clean to protect the safety of patients and the person caring for the patient. Hand hygiene is imperative to professional nursing practice because it prevents the spread of pathogens, decreases chances of hospital-acquired infections, and promotes patient safety. There is a substantial amount of evidence that shows why hand hygiene is important in healthcare