In this question, I will be discussing how risks associated with poor infection control are different for different health and social care environments. Risk is a situation involving exposure to danger. Having an infection or infection control is a risk, as it leads to harmful outcomes. Poor infection control is when the prevention and spread of infection are poor and weak. This takes place when we don’t wear gloves, don’t wear PPE, don’t wear surgical masks, don’t clean surfaces, etc. This is bad as it generally leads people to bad places. I will also be talking about how infection control is a critical issue in care. Different healthcare environments face different risks. An environment is the surroundings or conditions in which a person, animal, or plant lives or operates. Healthcare-associated infections (HCAIs) strongly impact service users. These are people who are vulnerable. People who live in shared living spaces where multiple people share the same living space induce and cause infection. Germs help but they are also harmful. In order to prevent them you should use hygiene such as wearing gloves in order to prevent contamination and spread, so change after touching anything and any surface. washing your hands with soap, always cleaning surfaces, wear PPE, and wear surgical masks. There are many ways that disease can spread due to poor infection control. Health promotion and disease prevention directorate. These can develop as a direct result of the healthcare environment, for example; if you have had an operation or if you have had contact with a healthcare setting. This is how risks are associated with poor infection control.
There are many health and social care environments where infection control is important. Firstly, in hospitals GP surgeries. Many infections are everywhere, for example, if someone coughs and touches the door handle, another person who is vulnerable may touch the door handle and then eat after and the infection will then be transported to them. It is important to make sure infection control is prevented as the people usually in hospitals or GP surgeries are vulnerable and more prone to catching diseases. Next, in residential care homes, it is important to make sure infections are controlled as the people usually here are old so their immune systems don’t work as well as younger people, so don’t fight off infections as easily, so they have to make sure that they are safe. Additionally, in domiciliary care it is important to control infections as people are coming in and out of the person's home so it is likely for infections to spread, therefore they should always wash their hands before they touch anything to ensure that the care user is safe. Furthermore, in educational environments, it is important to control infections as usually there are big groups of people so if one person has an infection it is easier for it to spread as they all work together and are close. Lastly, in our own homes, it is important to make sure that infection is controlled. We can do this by making sure surfaces are clean, waste products are disposed of and people wash their hands when entering. This will prevent the disease from spreading and will control it.
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For example, if there was a high rate of absenteeism in a maternity ward. if the staff are absent because of poor infection control as they were not careful with other patients and caught an infection from one of them. This is a risk as this could lead to poor infection with the newborn babies as they are not looked after with proper care and even the mums who have given birth are not receiving enough and not diligent care as there is not enough staff to provide care and support to every woman. High rates of staff off in a nursery is also a problem because then there is not enough staff able to look after the children and many things could go wrong when no one is watching them for example, one child may get lost, or even run away because no one is caring for them or even bothering to pay attention to them. When there is poor infection control in a nursery many of the children will spread the infection and the staff will also lead many children and staff to be unwell and sick, and they can pass it on to vulnerable people, which is dangerous. Here the risk of absenteeism is different in the maternity ward and the nursery, causing poor infection control in different ways. This shows that absenteeism is associated with poor infection control.
Additionally, poor infection control from the coronavirus could lead to a risk of spread of the disease. This could happen anywhere. I will be discussing the risk of death in a hospital first. Corona virus is a very catchy disease. It is extremely harmful and can cause a lot of damage. It is spread through the air and could enter anyone's nose, eyes, and mouth. It is also spread through touch and surfaces contain the disease if not cleaned. In a hospital, there are many people who may have this disease without even knowing. This could then spread to the doctors and nurses. These doctors may be specialized in one specific area that no one else can do and this will cause there to be no one to help the ill patients, causing staff absenteeism. Also, if vulnerable people in the hospital catch the disease this will cause them to get extremely ill and may even die. The spread of disease is an excessively significant risk in infection control. The spread of disease could also take place in a residential care home. This could happen as the carers go from one patient to another without washing their hands or changing their gloves. This then causes the new patient to have all the germs that the other patient had and if they had a disease, this is how diseases spread very easily. This will cause the patients to get ill, and if the carers catch it as well then, they will not be able to help and sustain the patients. This will cause the patients to get ill from not being looked after. This is why the spread of risk must be controlled in health and social care environments to reduce the risk. Here the risk of spread of the disease is different in a hospital and residential care home, causing poor infection control in different ways. This shows that the spread of disease is associated with poor infection control.
The first risk associated with poor infection control we will be discussing is the spread of disease. There are many ways that disease can spread due to poor infection control. Poor infection control is responsible for healthcare-associated infections that can develop either as a direct result of health care interventions, such as medical surgical treatment, or from being in contact with the health care setting. HCAIs (Health Care Associated Infections) pose a serious risk to patients, staff, and visitors as they are easily spread from one person to another. Therefore, good hygiene care is especially important in healthcare settings in order to reduce the spread of disease. They can cause significant costs for the NHS and cause morbidity to those infected, as a result, infection prevention and control is a key priority. The spread of disease can be more dangerous and serious in certain areas. For example, in the hospital, there are more people that are ill and have weakened immune systems as the body is trying to fight the disease so they are easily affected by other illnesses, for example, people usually in hospital when they have a certain disease usually catch pneumonia as well. Also, in a residential care home for elderly people, the people are more vulnerable so they are more likely to catch infection as they have weaker immune systems. This makes the spread of infection more likely and more dangerous in this setting. This shows that the spread of disease is associated with poor infection control.
Next, ill health is also a risk associated with poor infection control. HCAIs are infections that are acquired as a result of healthcare and directly affect patients, carers, and employees in several ways. For example; severe or chronic illnesses, pain, anxiety, depression, ill health, longer stays in hospital, reduced quality of life, loss of earnings, even permanent disability, and death. This is bad as it has serious outcomes and does not only affect the person themselves but also their friends, family members, and other people who are involved with them or care for them. For example, ill health in a hospital or GP surgery can be easily controlled if it is a patient, as there are many nurses and doctors who can do their absolute best when trying to cure that illness before it gets any worse, for example, if somebody came down with a chest infection, the doctors and nurses can work together to help them pass the illness. This is a strength of ill health in a hospital. However, the worst place for infections to spread is in waiting rooms and in GP surgeries. This is very often and common as many people are waiting for their illness to be checked out by a doctor and it spreads from one person to another this can be bad as people in the waiting room could be vulnerable and have weak immune systems and this can lead them to have many severe outcomes. This shows that ill health is associated with poor infection control.
In addition, high rates of absenteeism through sickness are a risk associated with poor infection control. Injuries, illness, and medical appointments are the most commonly reported reasons for missing work. Not surprisingly, each year during the cold and flu season, there is a dramatic spike in absenteeism rates among full-time and part-time employees. This can be due to poor infection control in the care environment making it more likely for disease to spread at a rapid rate. It is in the interest of employees to cut the spread of infection by ensuring that the workplace is clean and safe. In hospitals and residential care homes, it is particularly important to keep sickness free, but with closure and postponed missions, it may add to the overall burden. An example of this risk is any hospital or GP surgery, if a nurse or doctor gets unwell it can affect the hospital or GP surgery as there will be fewer people around to help those who need it and could make ill health worse for some people. As well as this, if a nurse is off ill, the person may not trust any other doctor and cancel their appointments which could increase the risk of illness. if you are off with an illness this could risk those at home of getting ill and missing time off from whatever they do, then if the whole household is ill, there is nobody there to look after each other, for example if everybody is being sick and cannot get out of bed, you have to look after yourself. This shows that absenteeism is associated with poor infection control.
Lastly, death and legal action Is also risk associated with poor infection control. Sometimes, poor infection control can lead to patients dying from conditions that are unrelated to the original reason they are in the healthcare setting. If there is poor infection control, it can cause someone to die. Also, a service provider may also die. This will cause lots of havoc in the healthcare setting as this will cause fewer staff to help and will cause a commotion. This will cause the family to take legal action. For example, an elderly person who breaks a hip in a fall but gets food poisoning while in hospital and subsequently died. Their family may take legal action against the hospital trust if they believe this death could have been prevented. For example, if someone has an operation and it goes wrong, leading them to get ill, be worse or die, their family will take legal action against the hospital because the operation should have been successful. This is how death and legal action are a risk associated with poor infection control.
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