My chosen topic is Nurse Practitioners (NPs), with an emphasis on acute and critical care settings. An article titled “Infection Prevention for the Emergency Department” was used for this analysis. The study’s goal was to examine the research on infection prevention techniques in the emergency room, including but not limited to hand cleanliness, standard and transmission-based precautions, vaccination of healthcare workers, and environmental controls (Liang et al., 2018). In light of the importance of nurse practitioners in emergency rooms, I decided to write about this subject. Acute and critical care nurse practitioners are responsible for safeguarding critically ill patients from infection to facilitate their recovery, forestall a decline in their health, and provide optimal nursing care (Kleinpell et al., 2019).
The prevention of diseases is still a significant issue in intensive care. Patients who are acutely or dangerously ill and seek treatment in emergency departments pose a threat of transmitting the disease to NPs and other patients. In addition, they put themselves and others at risk of contracting an infection while receiving care (Liang et al., 2018). Nurse practitioners in intensive care units have primary responsibility for infection prevention and control, which is crucial to patient safety.
How do we know this is a problem or an issue?
In the emergency rooms and intensive care units, infection prevention poses numerous challenges. To begin with, infection prevention can be easily forgotten or replaced by other urgent and life-threatening situations. Nevertheless, severe infectious illness risks in emergency care might have substantial clinical effects on patients and NPs (Liang et al., 2018). In addition, Nurse Practitioners are likely to be exposed to germs in the course of their everyday practice due to their close and frequent interaction with patients.
Who needs the information about the problem or issue?
When providing treatment for acute and critical patients, infection prevention is a priority for all organizations and practitioners in the healthcare industry. Patients, nurse practitioners, and the organization that provides healthcare all need information regarding infection and prevention control, assessment, and standard measures. Consequently, critical care nurse practitioners ought to have knowledge regarding infection control and standard measures that they have obtained directly from the source. In addition, it is of the utmost importance to stress the need to take steps to prevent patients from contracting additional infections due to emergency care.
What are the possible solutions?
A variety of strategies might be implemented to raise Nurse Practitioners’ awareness of the need for infection control and safety procedures. The first step is for the medical center to offer workshops for newly hired ICU nurse practitioners to learn about conventional precautions in infection control. It is additionally vital to provide ICU NPs with ongoing training to improve their skills and knowledge (Liang et al., 2018). Furthermore, the infection control staff should closely monitor NPs’ performance/use of infection control standard procedures and address any bad behavior.
How will dissemination of this researched information impact behavior
The study’s procedures and actions were to detect and lessen the chances of infection transmission. The goal was to ensure that everyone in the hospital, from patients to workers to visitors, could enjoy a certain level of excellence vital to their health and safety. Well-designed standard precautions should be put in place in the application of the basic concepts of preventing infection and safeguarding nurse practitioners and patients from contact with potentially contaminated blood and bodily secretions. Every nurse practitioner has a unique set of responsibilities and accountability, and the standard of care guides the knowledge, skills, judgment, and attitudes required for safe practice. In conclusion, nurse practitioners ought to have regular opportunities to implement infection control measures.
References
Kleinpell, R. M., Grabenkort, W. R., Kapu, A. N., Constantine, R., & Sicoutris, C. (2019). Nurse practitioners and physician assistants in acute and critical care. Critical Care Medicine, 47(10), 1442-1449. Web.
Liang, S. Y., Riethman, M., & Fox, J. (2018). Infection prevention for the emergency department: Out of reach or standard of care? PubMed Central (PMC). Web.