Nurses role - Research Paper Example

? Nurses role The study of this research is aimed at exploring the role of nurses in prevention of the healthcare associated infections. Theconcept of healthcare associated infections has been defined in this research. The characteristics of healthcare associated infections have been studied. The essential conditions that lead to the transmission of healthcare associated infections to susceptible patients are identified in the research process. The various features of healthcare associated infections that distinguish it from other diseases have been studied in the research process. The nurses have been identified as the frontline people for prevention of health care associated infections. The duties and responsibilities of the nurses and the role played by them in preventing healthcare associated infections have been analyzed in this research. The various clinical methods and the medical practices adopted by the nurses have been analyzed in the research process that is useful in prevention of healthcare associated infections. Introduction The health care associated infections are the diseases that develop among the patients during the time of hospitalization. The contamination of the hospital environment and the transmission of the infectious agents affect the patients who are vulnerable to such infection. The healthcare associated infections tend to affect the susceptible patients during the period of hospitalization within a period of 48 hours to the next 10 days of admission. The nurses play the role of monitoring as well as performing and controlling the spread of infection among the patients by adoption of evidence based clinical practices. The nurses are frontline healthcare staff who can directly identify the symptoms of healthcare associated infections and could effectively treat the patients for recovery. Healthcare Associated Infections The Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, headquartered in Atlanta, USA has provided a formal definition of Healthcare Associated Infections. The health care associated infections are the diseases that affect the patients during the period of hospitalization. These patients are not affected by these diseases before hospitalization. Neither do these infections develop post hospitalization. The period of hospitalization is also counted as the time period from 48 hours to the next 10 days post hospitalization. There are three essential criteria, the fulfillment of which may lead to the transmission of healthcare associated infections. There must be a source of infected microorganism, an agent or a means of transmission of the infectious disease and a host or patient who is vulnerable to be affected by the infection. The various sources of infected microorganisms are the bacteria, viruses, fungi and protozoa. The sources of infection may also be the residual bacteria on the skin, intestine, respiratory system, etc of the patients. These infections are difficult to suppress and as a result of this the hospital environment, equipments, floors and exposed surfaces may get contaminated (Bullock, Clark and Rycroft-Malone, 2012). These act as agents for transmission. The infection is transmitted to the susceptible host or the patient who gets infected due to deficiency in the immunity of the host patient. The lack of immunity may be due to suffering from anemia, leukemia, diabetes, etc. The susceptibility of the host may also develop due to prolonged hospitalization on account of severe illness. Role of Nurses: Prevention of healthcare associated infections The role of nurses is extremely vital in prevention of healthcare associated infections. The nurses are the first point of resistance who are responsible to take necessary actions for prevention of the healthcare associated infections. The daily precautionary practices adopted by the nurse help in preventing the transmission of the health associated infection to the susceptible patients. The nurses have a direct control over recognizing the source of infection, monitoring the environmental conditions in the hospital and then resorting to aseptic clinical functions to protect and save the patients from the healthcare associated infections. The nurses play a crucial role of working on the ground from patient to patient and taking care of their daily nursing requirements. The nurses are most knowledgeable about the details of illness of the patients and the probable sources of infection that might affect the patients. Thus a nurse could be most effective in limiting the sources of contamination and transmission of infectious agents to the patients. In this way, the chain-wise transmission of healthcare associated infections among the susceptible patients could be averted. The various ways that are adopted by the nurses for prevention and control are hand hygiene practices, environmental cleanliness, use of protective equipments, evidence based practices against infected microorganisms and etiquette for cough. Most infectious diseases are spread through the hands for which washing and cleaning hands before undertaking any task is essential for the patients. The nurses resort to the use of disposable gloves that helps to prevent the transmission of infectious bacteria and viruses (Wilson, 2006). The nurses play the role of overall control for ensuring cleanliness of the hospital environment. The floor surfaces, medical equipments and other exposed surfaces are cleaned to order to keep those free from contamination. Several evidence-based clinical methods for prevention of infectious diseases are used by the nurses to protect the patients from the health care associated infections. The nurses play the role of guardian in the hospitals and ensure that the patients and the hospital staffs adhere to the etiquettes of cough and respiratory practices. During the time of cough, the nose and mouth are properly covered to prevent spread of infection in the air. During the time of respiratory secretion, tissues are used to prevent contamination and transmission of the infection. The nurses play the role of monitoring, performing and controlling these actions to prevent the healthcare associated infections. Conclusion The nurses are the frontline staffs in the hospital who could quickly identify the source of infection and take preventive actions to stop the transmission of the infection among patients. The healthcare associated infections are spread through the exposure to contaminated surfaces and equipments, spread of viruses and bacteria to the susceptible patients. Several techniques adopted by the nurses like hand hygiene, following etiquette during coughing and sneezing, maintaining a clean environment of the hospital help to prevent the spread of healthcare associated infection among the patients. The preventive measures adopted by the nurse helps to restrict chain-wise transmission of healthcare associated infections among the patients in the hospital. Hence, nurses play a vital role in prevention of healthcare associated infections. References Bullock, I., Clark, J. M. and Rycroft-Malone, J. (2012). Adult Nursing Practice: Using Evidence in Care. UK: Oxford University Press. Wilson, J. (2006). Infection Control in Clinical Practice. China: Elsevier Health Sciences. Read More