The nurses Role in The prevention of health care associated infections - Essay Example

The role of nurses in prevention of infections has been enhanced by including microbiology in their curriculum. The paper concludes that nurses prevent transmission of infections by exuding best practices in their profession. Role of Nurses in the Prevention of Infections Nurses have always been described as being an important assistant for doctors who acquire technical as well as task related skills. Nurses today are trained and educated in their fields and are registered so as to provide a high quality patient care.

The job of a nurse requires great critical thinking skills and involves the complex diagnosis for patient’s safety. The role of a nurse involves the prevention of medication errors, the administration of drugs, and ensuring that the right therapy is being given to the patient (Greenwood, n.d.). Hence, although the role of a nurse is evolving greatly, their role is of vital importance for the prevention of infections associated with health care. Perhaps one of the major roles of a nurse is to ensure the patient’s safety by administering the right medicines, eliminating medication error, and ensuring the proper therapy that is relevant to a particular patient (Greenwood, n.d.). . Care coordination, which is an intrinsic part of a nurse’s job, is being used as an instrument to enhance patient’s health and satisfaction (American Nurses Association, n.d.).

Nurses take into account the needs and preferences of patients so as to provide them with the best health care service. Due to the extremely important role played by nurses in the patient’s health care, nurses are being educated and trained to carry out leadership roles. Leadership is a critical aspect of a nurse’s responsibility and this could come in the form of taking immediate decisions and thinking rationally. For this reason, it is being suggested that the baccalaureate exam should be made a minimum criteria for registered nurses (Greenwood, n.d.).

Apart from this there has been a raise in the standards for nursing licenses so as to ensure that only highly trained and qualified nurses who possess the necessary skills are authorized to carry out patient care. Now it is also being considered by some professionals that a master’s degree should be made a criterion for being a registered nurse (RN) (Greenwood, n.d.). According to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), the role of a nurse is important not merely in the sense of hospital care but also in community-oriented and family-based care (2008).

Through their experience, proven approaches, and intervention techniques, they can improve the healthcare quality for patients. The term health care quality is often defined in terms of standard, which takes into consideration the health services and the intended outcome on the patient (Mitchell, 2008). This resulted in certain indicators expressing quality standards, which include death, disease,