The Nurses Role in the Health Care System - Essay Example

The Nurses Role in the Health Care System Epidemiology: Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs) STDs have been a societal concern for a long period of time due to the high number of new infections and deaths being recorded especially among the youth as well as in married couples. This is due to the fact that most of the infections which are viral, do not have well known treatment meaning that once a person is infected, chances of getting cured are minimal especially if it is not diagnosed at its early stages of incubation (Galan, 2004). This essay is a critical evaluation of the epidemiology from a structured approach involving sections such as historical significance, relation to the healthy people objective 2010, natural life history, Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary interventions, as well as Incidence and Prevalence Rates. Historical Significance Sexually transmitted diseases have been in existence since the early 1900s. During these times, there was no known medical treatment for such infections such as Herpes, gonorrhea and syphilis and the communities then used barbaric methods to control their spreading. In fact it was not until 1919 that the ability to identify the viruses was realized especially the one causing Herpes (Guerreiro, 2003). This led to the then Roman emperor taking the step of banning kissing in order to curb the spread of the skin infections that attacked people with the herpes virus. Just like how people justify opportunistic skin infections as a result of STDs, people then believed that herpes was caused by insect bites. Syphilis is also an STD that has a long history in the era before scientific inventions in the health sector. The only treatment that was administered to the infected persons was the use of mercury which according to history did not have much effect on its curing. In fact, when people later realized that it was transmitted sexually, they came up with the slogan,’ a night in the arms of Venus leads to a lifetime in mercury.’ When the mercury failed to produce results and the infections continued, malaria was induced into the patients due to the fact that patients with fever got healed of the disease (Lewis, 2004). Malaria was to be treated later with quinine though the discovery of penicillin was able to control both infections. Gonorrhea on the other hand was mistaken with syphilis due to similarities in the symptoms and from the research findings it was treated in a similar manner by the use of mercury, which was injected through the urethra of the infected patients. Unfortunately this could not work out as a viable solution since the infections were different but since there were no microscopes, it was difficult to diagnose the real infection. The first case of HIV infection was realized in the year 1981in the US after which several gay men started experiencing strange diseases and infections that could not react to treatment (Lewis, 2004). After an intensive research, the men were found to have the same syndrome which later came to be known as AIDS. Problem in Relation to Healthy People 2010 Objectives Sexually transmitted diseases have been handled as a single entity in the healthy people 2010 objectives. The main objectives include reducing the number of Chlamydia trachomatis infections especially in those whose age bracket ranges between 15 and 40 years (Health and Human Services Dept, 2007). Congenital herpes has also been identified as a threat and therefore given a high ranking among the objectives which are geared towards the reduction of such infections. Gonorrhea is also among the STDS that have been given the first priority in the objectives of the healthy people 2010. From the data available in their records, it is estimated that there are approximately 19 new cases of gonorrhea infections per every 100, 000 people. 1997 recorded a high rate of 123 infections per 100, 000 people. Among these, it was noticed that the highest proportion of new infections was recorded in the Americans of the Indian origin (Health and Human Services Dept, 2007). Another objective is to ensure that youths especially adolescents, who are prone to these infections either abstain from sexual activities or those who don’t make use of the condoms in order to control the transmission of these infections. The target for this objective is to achieve 95% of the youth to either abstain or use condoms, up from 85% recorded in the year 1999 (Health And Human Services Dept, 2007). If this is achieved, it means that only 5% of the adolescents will be left to make their decisions presumably those who do not like following statistics on the number of people who lose their lives to STDs. Natural Life History Sexually transmitted diseases as discussed herein existed long before their scientific discovery. People believed that they were infections which were caused by insect bites especially due to their signs and symptoms, which mostly affected the skin. It was not until later in 1919 that the viruses causing the infections were discovered. Before this, the mode of treating and diagnosing the infections was conducted in a layman approach, which was vulnerable to wrong medication (Galan, 2004). For example, it was a common practice to confuse syphilis and gonorrhea due to the similarity in their symptoms. These diseases are caused by viruses that are transmitted from one person to the other through unsafe sexual contact with an infected person. Luckily, medication for treating syphilis and gonorrhea have been discovered but the challenge remains due to the existence of a more deadly and untreatable virus i.e. HIV. The only treatment available for HIV is through ARVs, which are only useful in prolonging the life of the infected person (Lewis, 2004). However, more research is being conducted to discover the treatment for this disease that creates an immune deficiency syndrome that creates an opportunity for other opportunistic infections such as Tuberculosis, Typhoid, among others. Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary Interventions The primary interventions in the fight against sexually transmitted diseases mostly concentrate on providing information to the society on the importance of practicing safe sexual behaviors in order to protect those who are not infected (Lord, 2009). This is important due to the fact that lack of information is dangerous as it may lead to innocent people being infected with the viruses as a result of not knowing how they should protect themselves against the disease. Massive campaigns are being carried out to enlighten the public on the various modes through which the infections are passed from one person to the other. These are for example having unprotected sex with an infected partner, sharing of needles especially by those under drugs or coming into bare contact with blood from an infected person and this is if you also have a fresh wound (Golden, 2007). National goals and policies have also been initiated by various health organizations whereby targets are put within a certain period to guide the people involved in cutting down the rate of new infections. Secondary and tertiary interventions on STDs concentrate on providing quality medical care to the already infected persons. Guidance and counseling is provided on the need of these people to live positively and avoid careless behaviors that may risk the lives of those who are not infected. Due to the fact that diseases such as AIDs have no cure, the patients have only been provided drugs that help them to increase their immune system in order to be able to fight opportunistic infections (Lord, 2009). These drugs are provided at a cheap price but also there are programs around the world that fund for the same such that patients acquire them for free. Infected persons are encouraged to register themselves so that their health record can be monitored especially due to the fact that there are those who live in self denial. Where couples are involved, pregnant women are assisted to manage their pregnancies in order to protect the unborn child from acquiring the infection. Incidence and Prevalence Rates According to statistics, sexually transmitted diseases are more prevalent among three categories of people which include; youth, unmarried people and the urban city dwellers. The Sub-Saharan Africa has also been classified as the top ranking in STDs with a rate of approximately 200 infections per a sample of 1000 people, followed by South and South East-Asia with approximately 150 infections on the same sample (Golden, 2007). Reports from various research conducted on the prevalence of the epidemiology indicate that close to 70 million individuals are either carriers or are infected with STDs in the US. This translates to a rate of approximately 24% of the total population or a ratio of 1 person in every 4 people. References Galan, Y. (2004) Sexual behavior, history of sexually transmitted diseases, and the risk of prostate cancer, International Epidemiological Association, 6(3), 200-214 Golden, M. (2007) Biological and demographic causes of high HIV and sexually transmitted disease prevalence, University of Washington Guerreiro, D. (2003) Sexually transmitted diseases and reproductive tract infections, International Journal of Gynecology & Obstetrics, 63(7), 167-173 Health and Human Services Dept (2007). Healthy People 2010, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Lewis, M. (2004) Sex, Disease, and Society: A Comparative History of Sexually Transmitted Diseases and HIV/AIDS, Greenwood Press Lord, A. (2009) Condom Nation: The U.S. Government's Sex Education Campaign from World War I to the Internet, the Johns Hopkins University Press Read More