The healthcare system experiences various challenges with most of them becoming more evident during the Covid-19 pandemic, which forms one of the NURS 6053 ANALYSIS OF A PERTINENT HEALTHCARE ISSUE. The number of people affected with the Covid-19 increased drastically considering the infectivity of the disease. The number of patients admitted to the hospitals increased as some of them required oxygen support. The burden caused by the Covid-19 to the healthcare system was mainly felt by the healthcare providers who are the frontline fighters of the pandemic. On the other hand, while the healthcare providers were entitled to fight the infection and save a life; they would risk their lives especially considering the limitations in the personal protective equipment supply. The infection control protocols refer to the activities aimed at reducing the spread of an infectious disease. The purpose of the NURS 6053 ANALYSIS OF A PERTINENT HEALTHCARE ISSUE paper is to explore the infection prevention and control protocol as a major stressor in the healthcare sector and the associated competing needs and how the healthcare institutions are working to address the issue.
Infection control and prevention is a significant national stressor experienced in the Covid-19 pandemic. The healthcare institutions were forced to reinforce the infection prevention measures and ensure thorough adherence to the protocol and reduce the spread of the infection. The healthcare providers are at higher risk of contracting the Covid-19 from the patients if they fail to observe the IPC requirement. The issue significantly affected our organization. While the healthcare providers are trained on the IPC protocols when handling the Covid-19 pandemic patients, a good number of them were able to be infected with the virus from the patients.
The infection prevention and control were worsened by the shortage of PPE supplies. The increase in the number of Covid-19 cases requires an urgent response and so the consumption of personal protective equipment (PPE) increased greatly. For example, in our case, a total of 85 patients were admitted with the Covid-19 diseases. Furthermore, a totalof9 healthcare providers contracted the infection and this would create a shortage in the number of healthcare providers considering that the affected individuals were to undergo isolation for 14 days. Other than the healthcare providers, 10 patients also contracted the infection from the positive cases.
The Covid-19pandemic affected all healthcare institutions. The severity of the diseases and the need to apply ICP depended on the number of new cases recorded on daily basis. Improving the ICP protocol would mean that the healthcare providers take a leading role to isolate the infected cases from the non-infected ones. On the other hand, they had to be cautious not to be infected. The hallmark of the stress presented by the protocol was evident in cases where the healthcare providers contracted the infection because the available workforce will reduce. The risk of getting infected by the Covid-19 virus increases proportionately with the number of patients a healthcare provider interacts with. There is the possibility that working for long hours could cause burnout in the healthcare providers and so reduce their compliance level to the ICP. Sun et al. (2021) discuss the strategies used in hospitals in China to address IPC and reduce the spread of the coronavirus. The study reports that the Chinese government reduced crowding in hospitals that reduced the risk of transmission, by establishing internet hospitals (Sun et al., 2021). The use of the internet means that the healthcare providers would still offer the medical services; though, without interacting directly with the patients (Sun et al., 2021).
Similarly, Wee et al. (2020) report that implementation of the respiratory surveillance ward was developed during the Covid-19 pandemic in Singapore to fight the spread. The organization in Singapore implemented the RSW within six weeks and this reduced the cases of patient-healthcare provider transmissions. All the patients admitted with respiratory diseases were monitored accordingly and proper protocols were engaged to prevent their risk of acquiring Covid-19 among other diseases in the hospital. The use of personal protective equipment as an infection prevention and control requirement helped in curbing the spread of the disease among the healthcare providers and the patients. Covid-19 is a respiratory disease; therefore, surveillance
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