The Role of Nurses in Community Health Sector - Research Paper Example

? Bioterrorism and Nursing Bioterrorism and Nursing The role of nurses in community health sector is significant. Similarly nurses are also held responsible for the initial inspection of diseases which are caused due to bioterrorism bacteria and agents. However, there is no proper strategy of current community health and the probabilities for current community health nurses are also not characterized which in turn causes complexities of the in order to inspect and identify and disease. Because of this, the responsibilities of community health nurses are doubled due to the surveillance of the bioterrorism diseases. This paper will study through previous researches and three different journals the barriers for the community health nursing for surveillance and identification of diseases caused by bioterrorism agents. Defining Bioterrorism: Bioterrorism is a form of terrorism in which different biological agents are released in order to make the people, plants or animals sick in masses. The consequences are in a number of deaths. These bioterrorism agents are usually viruses, bacteria, or toxins. However, these agents are present in the surrounding already but they are modified and reworked in a way that their ability is increased and that they also become resistant to the current medicines available so that there is no cure for them. The mediums usually used in order to multiply these bioterrorism agents are water, air and food sometimes. One of the major reasons for bioterrorism is that, that terrorist adopts this kind since it cannot be detected quickly and easily. These agents take time to react, sometimes days and sometimes even weeks (A‡ankaya & Kibaroglu, 2010). The significance of the study: The subject of bioterrorism in the community health sector in the US was not of major concern until 2001. The use of ‘Anthrax’ has created a serious fear of bioterrorism among the communities. Moreover, these bioterrorism attacks have also created realization and a sense of consideration for the healthcare department particularly community health nurses that their role during such attacks are very significant. Therefore proper education and training are very important factors for the community health nurses in order to overcome the chaos at the time of any bioterrorism attack (Mellehovitch, 2004). Bioterrorism and Community Health Nurses: Across the US, the issue of bioterrorism among the public health sector has become a core issue. Usually, the public and the US community rely initially on these primary healthcare departments for the inspection of any disease or unusual biological conduct. The community health nurses are the center of attention for this entire process and for delivering their services. However, cases have been observed where the lack of training and education among the health care nurses to handle and manage any bioterrorism attacks were observed, creating chaos and panic as a result. Not only this, the shortage of community of health nurses was also observed while any attack of bioterrorism. It is very obvious that the community health nurses need training for the bioterrorism preparedness so that they are ready to handle and are pre-prepared if their community is attacked by bioterrorism in a professional manner (Rebmann, 2006). According to a research journal on bioterrorism by the Journal of American Medical Association (JAMA) it was observed that many of the community healthcare staff and nurses did not follow any formal training or education in order to manage or handle any bioterrorism attack. Out of the hundreds of nurses interviewed by (Gerberding & Hughes, 2002) very few of them took courses and fhealth careation in community healthcare and for bioterrorism. While the remaining nurses made complaints to the researchers that were not able to conduct their studies on bioterrorism because of the shortage of the staff who will take coverage of their nonattendance. As a result they had to take help and lessons from those nurses which fortunately were able to take proper trainings on the subject (Gerberding & Hughes, 2002). The issue of the shortage of the staff cannot be ignored as discussed earlier. According to the research (Gerberding & Hughes, 2002) there were hospitals in the US where there were only one senior nursehealth carestant and only two healthcare nurses which are round the clock on calls. Since they are the ones at those hospitals which are aware of their duties therefore when they even on vacations they have to attend many calls as they can only perform certain operations and tasks. This is indeed upsetting in a country like US. It may result in huge problems if there will be any attack of bioterrorism (Gerberding & Hughes, 2002). Because of it, many people were seen helping all by themselves in any previous acts of bioterrorism in the US (Glass & Schoch-Spana, 2001). Due to the absence of community health care nurses and the lack of awareness among them regarding these attacks, a chaos and panic were observed among the public who then started helping themselves on their own and a few worst cases were observed as of its consequences (Glass & Schoch-Spana, 2001). Another problem on the same issue is about the funding for the community health nurses by the legislation as reported by the (Akins & Williams, 2005) . Due to the lack of sufficient funding, many of the nurses were not able to continue and conduct trainings on bioterrorism and its management. Many of the nurses were found interested in order to get trainings and further education on the topic but were unable to pursue them because of the limited funds and resources. They had to take informal trainings from their fellow nurses and senior staffs for any bioterrorism emergency. The increase in funds to overcome bioterrorism was witnessed after 9/11 and the increase was expected to go on, but gradually it was again in the same position where it was before the incident. These limited resources and funding made it impossible for the health care departments to hire community health care nurses for other different departments. One single nurse was observed taking care of 5 different cases in a week. This gives that how these insufficient funds can break the bridge between the clinical health and community health services by nurses (Akins & Williams, 2005). Results: Studies found that community health care nurses were greatly dedicated to their duties. However, lack of education and training were found among the staff regarding bioterrorism. This automatically resulted in the informal trainings, lessons and informal communications for the community health nurses to perform their duties. Solutions for the Problem: The nurses providing the community health care services came from different backgrounds; psychiatric nursing, child nursing, etc. based on their experience. However, these nurses do not have any formal degree or certificate for combating bioterrorism and those who have, are very few in numbers which are insufficient for the community health. In this regard proper education and training becomes mandatory for the community health nurses in order to manage and handle any unwarned attack of bioterrorism. The teaching should start with a room or school and should continue throughout their nursing career. Different workshops, seminars and lessons should be conducted by the concerned departments for nurses so that it should be assured that all the operations and teachings are up to date and that all the nursing staff should be familiar with unexpected bioterrorism circumstances. Different activities should be planned and implanted for the community health nurses so that they stay in practices on a regular basis. Not only for community health nurses but other health care staff should also be taught of flexibility so that they know in case of emergency how to perform their duties and role in an effective manner (Akins & Williams, 2005). The need of proper communication between the nurse-patient and the nurse-physician should be maintained at all times. Health care nurses are the ones who are in close contact with the patients, they should be trained in a way that if there is any symptom of any bioterrorism agent than they are able to easily identify them on an immediate basis and report it to the concerned physician so that they may contact the healthcare authorities and take relevant actions (Akins & Williams, 2005). The issue of shortage of nurses should also be addressed by the healthcare department so that there may be ample of nurses at the time of any bioterrorism act. Proper schools and institutes should be made where formal education and training must be given to new nursing students so that it open up ways for them to enter the profession and help serve the humanity. This will ultimately result in reducing the shortage and will balance it (Rebmann, 2006). Proper funding from the government will make it possible to achieve this target. By these funds the health care department will be able to open new institutes to educate fresh students and will also be able to conduct formal trainings for the present nursing staff (Rebmann, 2006). Moreover these nurses should also be trained regarding how to help the community in order to avoid panic and chaos. At the time of any bioterrorism attack people panic and chaos is created in the society. These nurses should be trained in a way that they must be aware of the right drugs to use and also to curb the panic among the public. It will result in a smooth, efficient and quick vaccine and treatment procedure (A‡ankaya & Kibaroglu, 2010). Conclusion: It is understood that community health nurses can play a vital part in avoiding, treating and helping the public through bioterrorism diseases. The major need is of proper education and training for these health care nurses so that they may perform their duties more effectively and promptly. Community healthcare nurses were found to be in a very less number while others were burdened with duties of other nurses. Out of those few community health nurses very less had proper trainings and education regarding bioterrorism and its management. While the remaining took help and lessons from their colleagues and shared their experience. A proper strategy is required for educating, training and for the communication of the nurses as it was witnessed that these things lack among the nursing staff across the US. They should be able to treat and identify any symptom or sign of bioterrorism disease and should report them to the healthcare department immediately. They should be aware of the up to date system, vaccines and drugs so that they may be able to avoid any state of chaos at the time of a bioterrorism attack, since, it does not come with a prior notice. Reference List A‡ankaya, S., & Kibaroglu, M. (2010). Bioterrorism: Threats and Deterrents. Amsterdam: IOS Press. Akins, R. B., & Williams, J. R. (2005). The role of public health nurses in bioterrorism preparedness. Disaster Management, 3(4), 98-105. Gerberding, J. L., & Hughes, J. M. (2002). Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response. The Journal of the American Medical Association, 287(7), 898-900. Glass, T. A., & Schoch-Spana, M. (2001). Bioterrorism and the People. Oxford Journals, 34(2), 217-223. Mellehovitch, V. B. (2004). Bioterrorism and Public Health. New York: Nova Science Pub Inc. Rebmann, T. (2006). Nursing Bioterrorism Preparedness. Saint Louis: Saint Louis University . Read More