Write a 1-page paper describing a need or change related to a practice environment or a problem that is suitable for research. Include your rationale for why this situation or topic warrants attention.
Outline your plans for participation in the professional nursing organization, and describe how this will help you to meet your professional goals. Also, consider how the organization may correlate with or support the development of your DNP Scholarly Project or PhD Dissertation in the future.
Include documentation of your membership at the end of your Major Assessment as an Appendix. (You may copy and paste the e-mail verification of your membership, or copy your membership receipt and paste it into your Word doc.) Be sure to observe proper APA style for including appendices.
Protecting Healthcare Workers Against Infectious Diseases
Healthcare workers play a fundamental role in the effort to raise health standards in society. Indeed, frontline healthcare workers such as nurses, doctors, and clinicians improve access and the quality of health care services available to the community hence improving health standards in significant ways. By providing essential services such as family and community-based services, healthcare workers prevent diseases and promote health (Kohli & Chadha, 2017; Tumbelaka` et al., 2018). This aspect explains their importance and significance in the broader healthcare system.
Mostly, frontline healthcare workers go through extensive training before they are deployed to handle disease outbreaks. Despite such training and facilitation, there is a need to protect them from contracting diseases while on duty. Qin et al. (2018) contends that protecting healthcare workers from exposure to infectious diseases is critical in enhancing occupational health and safety and is equally essential in reducing hospital-acquired infections. Thus, controlling the spread of contagious diseases necessitates the protection of healthcare professionals.
The high rate of infections and deaths among frontline healthcare workers involved in the treatment and management of infectious diseases informs my emphasis on protecting such parties. According to Chatterjee & Kagwe (2020), during the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, healthcare workers were approximately 32 more likely to contract the disease than the general population. Similarly, the coronavirus outbreak has exposed the predicament of healthcare workers dealing with infectious diseases. Segel & John (2020) contend that approximately 4.7 million US healthcare workers have contracted the virus. Around 18 Italian doctors have died from the virus, while Spain has recorded about 3900 infections among its healthcare workers (Chatterjee & Kagwe, 2020). Such statistics demonstrate the need to protect healthcare professionals.
As a stakeholder in the professional nursing organization, I intend to actively advocate for the protection of all healthcare professionals working in the treatment and management of infectious diseases. Essential in my plan is to hold sensitization campaigns aimed at encouraging healthcare workers to protect themselves and to consider personal health while in the line of duty. Besides, I intend to emphasize the need for personal protective equipment (PPE) and its significance in reducing the infection rate among healthcare workers.
References
Chatterjee. S., & Kagwe, M. (2020) Health workers are the frontline soldiers against COVID-19. Let’s protect them. Africa Renewal, 2020. Retrieved from www.un.org/africarenewal/web-features/coronavirus/health-workers-are-frontline-soldiers-against-covid-19-let%E2%80%99s-protect-them
Kohli, S., & Chadha, R. (2017). Knowledge and Counselling skills of community health Workers for Promotion of optimal infant and young child feeding (IYCF) practices: a review. Int J Health Sci Res, 7(10), 240-51.
Qin, Y. L., Bangura, H. S., Li, B., Zhou, Y. S., Yuan, Y., Sun, Y., … & Song, Y. J. (2018). Self-Reported Knowledge and Practices of Healthcare Workers on Occupational Exposure and Protection from Infectious Disease at the Military Hospital in Sierra Leone. Global Journal of Medical Research, 9(5), 32-25.
Segel, K. T., & John S.T. (2020) Health care workers protect us. it’s time to protect them. Harvard Business Review, 2020. Retrieved from hbr.org/2020/06/health-care-workers-protect-us-its-time-to-protect-them
Tumbelaka, P., Limato, R., Nasir, S., Syafruddin, D., Ormel, H., & Ahmed, R. (2018). Analysis of Indonesia’s community health volunteers (kader) as maternal health promoters in the community integrated health service (Posyandu) following health promotion training. International Journal of Community Medicine and Public Health, 5(3), 127-135.