The Importance of Hygiene - Essay Example

? Hygiene (Insert Hygiene Hygiene is necessary in every field of practice because it has merits for both the patient and the practitioner. This paper will focus on the role that hygiene plays in the field of nursing. It will analyze the importance and impact that hygiene has on adult nursing as a practice and also on pediatric nursing. Hygiene simply refers to a science that deals with the preservation of health. Hygiene can also be identified as a set of practices that are associated with, or help in the preservation of health. Hygiene recommendations and requirements will vary under different situations both in society and in the medical field. This is because the perception of hygiene among different ethnic groups or cultures may vary and also the hygiene recommendations in a particular field of medicine may vary from those in a different field. The main reason why hygiene is emphasized on in the medical field is because it reduces the risk of spreading diseases. It controls the multiplication and spread of organisms that cause diseases in everyday life settings. There are different types of hygiene that are essential in the preservation of health, for example, hand hygiene. This is the most common societal form of hygiene. It is also referred to as hand washing and health experts recommend the washing of hands with a hand sanitizer such as soap. Hand hygiene is essential in preventing the spread of diseases in everyday life because the hands come in to contact with many things, such as unclean surfaces, and for this reason, it so happens that hands are more prone to transferring bacteria that will cause diseases. Other forms of hygiene may include food hygiene, laundry hygiene, and personal hygiene among many others. In the field of medicine, hygiene is summed up in to medical hygiene. This refers to the practices which regulate the administration of medicine and medical care. The main agenda of medical hygiene is to minimize the spread of diseases or even to prevent diseases from spreading. For example, if there is a patient who has been diagnosed or is showing symptoms of a particular infectious disease, then the prudent medical hygiene procedure that should be followed is isolation. The medical term used for isolation is quarantine. Hand hygiene is also pertinent to medical hygiene. Medical practitioners are required to wash their hands before handling a patient. This requirement is emphasized more when one is about to enter an operating room but the role that hand hygiene plays in the general hospital or health care setting cannot be overlooked because some bacteria that spread diseases are easily transmittable. In the 20th century, an outbreak of a number of highly infectious and deadly diseases was experienced. One such disease was Ebola. The rate of transmission of these viruses necessitated the tightening of medical hygiene and since then, such practices as proper disposal of medical waste is a key element in medical hygiene. The Role of Hygiene in Adult Nursing Adult nursing is the field of nursing which deals with and cares for adult patients who are suffering from acute and long term illnesses and diseases (Baughan & Smith, 2009). An adult nurse’s primary duty is to support the patient in their recovery process. This kind of support is offered by the use of care plans, and by carrying out care procedures and assessment. Apart from this, the adult nurse should educate the patient on how they can promote good health. This is where hygiene comes in. Hygiene is important in adult nursing and any other kinds of medical practice because it also helps the patient to recover from the diseases or illnesses that they are suffering from (Bullock, Clark & Marlone, 2012, p. 344). It is evident that adults, especially those who are well advanced in age, have immune systems and bodies which are more prone to diseases. This is because the immune system weakens gradually as the body itself ages. When an adult patient is infected by disease causing bacteria, they are more likely to be attacked by the disease caused by the bacteria because of the state of their immune system. Protective wear is a key component of medical hygiene. Masks, gloves, and caps are examples of protective wear (Brooker & Waugh, 2007). The use of protective wear in adult nursing is necessary because it reduces the risk of the nurse being used as a host to transport the bacteria from one patient to the next. In any case, if the bacteria around the patient are spread, it will land on the protective wear and this will help in reducing transmission because the protective wear will be eventually disposed of. The protective wear, as a form of hygiene, is also important to adult nurses because it prevents and reduces the risk of them being infected by the diseases that their patients are suffering from (Bullock, Clark & Marlone, 2012). Hand hygiene helps in the assurance and safe-guarding of a patient’s well-being. Regular hand washing eliminates the percentage of bacteria on hands that are likely to cause illnesses on patients. When a nurse is assessing the health or is diagnosing the condition of a patient, contact between the two is inevitable. The importance of hand hygiene is the fact that it helps in reducing the risk of the nurse infecting the patient during assessment or diagnostic process due to contact. Personal hygiene is not part of medical hygiene but plays a role to play in the medical field. On the part of the patients, personal hygiene helps reduce the risk of bacteria forming on their bodies. This exposes the patient to the risk of infection since the bacteria can easily infiltrate the patient’s body, thus, causing diseases. If a patient practices personal hygiene, they reduce the probability of bacteria forming on their bodies. An adult nurse is also required to practice personal hygiene because it will similarly help avoid the formation of bacteria on the body. This will help reduce the risk of the nurse transmitting bacteria to the patient during contact. Personal hygiene works both ways. It reduces the risk of infection on oneself and infection on others (Glasper, McEwing & Richardson, 2009). The evidence that has been provided through research shows that hygiene has a great impact on the practice of adult nursing. Hygiene regulates the manner in which nurses conduct their practice and handle their patients. This way, adult nurses are able to care for the well-being of their patients by reducing the risk of transmission of infectious diseases and also by helping in the quick and smooth recovery of the patients. The Role of Hygiene in Pediatric Nursing Pediatric nursing is the branch of nursing that is devoted to caring for children. Pediatric nurses deal with medical conditions of children from their infancy up to their late teenage years. Pediatric nurses perform duties similar to other nurses such as testing urine samples, and measurement of vital statistics but on children. Just like the elderly adult patients, children patients have special needs to. This is because when children are growing, their bodies will undergo rapid changes. These changes will make the children react differently to medications, illnesses and even injuries. The reactions are at times, indications of the sensitivity of the body of the patient and therefore the possibility of their body reacting to certain infectious bacteria cannot be overlooked (Potts & Mandleco, 2012). Hygiene has a major role to play in pediatric nursing than in any other form of nursing. This is because of the hyper-activity of children; children live a care free life and are very adventurous. This kind of inquisition exposes them to germs and bacteria that can be harmful to their health and such bacteria can gain access to their bodies through scars and bruises. Pediatric nurses require performing a hygienic cleansing of such wounds to eliminate the bacteria that may have contaminated the wound. This cleansing should be done using an antiseptic as this helps in disinfecting the wound and also in healing the wound (Bulman & Shutz, 2008). After performing the cleansing, the nurse is required to properly dress the wound to eliminate the possibility of further infection to the wound. The fact that children are exposed to many sources of bacteria means that they can be hosts to the bacteria. This will not only put the patient at risk but the nurse as well. Protective garment as a form of hygiene is also necessary for pediatric nurses because it helps protect them from coming in to contact with these bacteria which can be then transmitted or in other cases can cause infections on the nurse. Some children have chronic health conditions such as juvenile diabetes and paralysis. This means that such a patient is either fully unable or partially unable to perform personal hygiene on themselves. In this case, it is the duty of the pediatric nurse to perform or design a care plan which will help the patient to perform personal hygiene by their own. This helps reduce the risk of the patient being farther infected by bacteria forming due to poor personal hygiene or sanitation. Medical hygiene is also important to pediatric nursing because it helps contain deadly infectious diseases. Patients that have been diagnosed with severe or chronic illnesses that are easily transmitted are quarantined. This helps contain the spread of the disease and the disease itself because the children’s bodily functions are very vibrant and can, therefore, easily contract diseases through their respiratory processes (Brooker & Waugh, 2007). Hygiene has helped pediatric nursing to be an evidence based practice. This is because it has been proven that proper hygiene reduces the risk of bacteria spreading and is also a key catalyst in the process of recovery. It’s more essential in pediatric nursing because of the fact that children are more exposed to bacteria than any other kind of patients. Pediatric nurses are therefore required to undertake hygiene measures on themselves and on their patients as well. The philosophy of hygiene is extremely important to both fields of nursing. This is because the patients in both fields are extremely vulnerable. The adult patients have weak immune systems while the pediatric patients’ immune systems have not fully developed their defense mechanism and hence are vulnerable to infections. Hygiene does not develop any sort of difference between the two fields of nursing. This is because the applicable measures and standards of operation are the same in both fields. Conclusion The above discussion highlights the importance of hygiene and the role that it plays in the various nursing fields. Some aspects of hygiene which are viewed as simply societal etiquette such as hand washing and bathing, help reduce the risk of infection on humans in general and not just patients in particular, because they reduce the percentage of harmful bacteria on our bodies. Hygiene is also a key catalyst in the recovery process of a patient. This is because it eliminates the possibility of the bacteria multiplying and causing a recurrence of an illness or disease. More importantly, hygiene helps in safeguarding the health of the medical practitioner considering the fact that they are exposed to more bacteria due to the various conditions of the patients that they deal with. References Baughan, J. & Smith, A. (2009). Caring in Nursing Practice. Harlow, Pearson Education LTD. Brooker, C., & Waugh, A. (2007). Foundations of nursing practice: fundamentals of holistic care. Edinburgh; Toronto, Mosby/Elsevier. Bullock, I., Clark, J. M., & Rycroft-Malone, J. (2012). Adult nursing practice: using evidence in care. Oxford, Oxford University Press. Bulman, C., &Schutz, S. (2008). Reflective practice in nursing. Chichester [etc.], Blackwell. Glasper, E. A., McEwing, G., & Richardson, J. (2009). Foundation studies for caring: using student-centred learning. Basingstoke, Hampshire [UK], Palgrave Macmillan. Potts, N. L., &Mandleco, B. L. (2012). Pediatric nursing: caring for children and their families. Clifton Park, NY, Delmar Cengage Learning. Read More