The Nursing Assignment Paper 2022

Running head: NURSING ASSIGNMENT PAPER 1
Nursing Assignment Paper
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation

NURSING ASSIGNMENT PAPER 2
Introduction
This paper will highlight the influenza virus at large, its mode of spread and the risks it
imposes to the elderly people. Furthermore, the infection control practices necessary in the
residential aged care facility will also be covered within this paper. Accordingly, the risk
assessments together with the nursing care along with the cultural safety aspects which are
required for elderly people in the residential aged facility like the case of Mr. Jimmy Holden are
also covered.
It is highlighted that Mr. Jimmy Holden is underweight, unsteady and uses walking
frame. Furthermore, it is stated that over the past few weeks, he had a worsening flu-like
symptom. In that case, the paper will cover the reasons why his situation has been worsening and
some of the measures to be put in place so that he doesn’t spread the same infection to other
residents within the residential aged care facility.
Discuss influenza, the modes of spread and the specific risks it poses for the older person
Among the most common infectious diseases that are contagious is Influenza.
Accordingly, it occurs in seasonal epidemics and do manifests as acute fatigue to respiratory
failure. This disorder usually causes significant loss of suffering and mortality at long lasts
(Kissling & Valenciano, 2016).
Influenza has two predominant mechanisms of spread, which are fomites and person to
person. As an illustration, in-person to person transmission, it spreads through the infected
droplets that emanate from sneezing, coughing, touching, and talking. In that case, the infected
droplets usually have the potential to infect others. On the other hand, fomites are inanimate
objects like tables and phones (Crisp, Douglas, Ribeiro & Waters, 2016). However, the

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transmission can occur when the influenza droplets surface on the objects and hence people
come into contact with them.
Pneumonia, dehydration, asthma, diabetes congestive heart failure and bacterial are some
of the specific risks which are caused by Influenza (Crisp et al, 2016). Bronchitis usually occurs
when the inflammation develops within the lining of the bronchial tubes, which carries air to the
lungs. Some of the bronchitis symptoms are fever, fatigue, coughing up yellow along with
shortness of breath. Inflammation of the muscles, brain, and heart is another risks of Influenza to
older people. The flu virus usually worsens chronic conditions such as asthma or heart disorders
(Crisp et al, 2016).
Diseases have the potential to spread in any environment. However, the individuals in the
residential aged care facility are usually vulnerable to infections because of several reasons such
as having chronic diseases, being old and also having been in hospital (te Velthuis & Fodor,
2016). In that case, the infection control is a very crucial part of care, and hence, it is the
responsibility of all the caregivers to take note of that.
Discuss infection control precautions that are necessary in a residential aged care facility
Some of the infection control precautions in residential aged care are highlighted below.
The first control is hand hygiene. This is an essential factor in the reduction of the spread of
infections (Abbott et al, 2017). This has to be considered before touching residents or their area
of residing. Furthermore, it has to be considered after the procedure or fluid body exposure.
Hand hygiene should be maintained after reaching the residents’ surroundings. Accordingly, its
precaution is usually performed by the use of alcohol hand rub or washing hands. The alcohol-
based hand rub is typically sufficient to majority of the infectious agents.

NURSING ASSIGNMENT PAPER 4
The other standard precaution of infection control is respiratory hygiene or cough
etiquette. The residents of the aged care facility have to be advised to be covering sneezes along
with coughs to prevent individuals that are infected from transferring the same illness to others.
The mouth and nose have to be included when coughing, wiping and sneezing and hence dispose
of the tissue when done (Gallagher, Brooke, Ke & Koelle, 2018).
Personal protective equipment is the third precaution. As an illustration, the residents are
encouraged to use gloves to lower the spread of infectious agents which may be transferred via
hand. In this case, gloves are usually worn for the procedures that have the risk of exposure to
blood or body substances. The types of gloves used are sterile, non-sterile, and reusable utility.
Accordingly, the gloves are worn when changing the colostomy bag, assisting with toileting, oral
sanction, or giving mount care (Pulit-Penaloza et al, 2019).
Cleaning and managing spill also help to prevent infectious diseases from spreading.
Therefore, gloves and respective equipment has to be used in doing so (Crisp et al, 2016). The
healthcare givers are usually at risk of exposure to body and blood substances when handling of
medical devices. In that case, the medical devices which are selected for single-use should
strictly be used by one person and not multiple times.
Discuss other risk assessments and the nursing care that is required, including the cultural
safety aspects for this patient
The risk assessment is usually a legal requirement, and therefore, the caregiver has to
inspect the premises thoroughly for health and safety hazards (Marc et al, 2016). The nurse or the
caregiver has to identify the dangers in the aged care facility. This helps them to identify the
hazards which are specific to that particular facility so that necessary control measures are
implemented accordingly. This can be done by walking around to observe if there is anything

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which might pose an obvious risk (York, 2018). The inspection has to be done on skin and other
devices that are attached to the patient to identify indications of pressure injury which comprises
of oedema, induration, skin breakdown, and branching responses. Talking to the stall and service
users within the facility can also help since they will have a keen awareness about what might
put their health and safety in danger.
Check the ill-health records and accidents. This record contains details of anything that
might pose a regular threat to the staff or residents determining who might be harmed and how is
another step of risk assessment (York, 2018). This is because particular people within the aged
care facility usually face more significant risks than others. These people comprise of visitors,
certain groups of people, and residents (Chan et al, 2019).
The third stage is to evaluate risks and implement the safety measures that necessary.
The fourth stage is to record the results. The other risk assessment that is very important is the
fluid balance chart which a non-invasive toll for assessing the surgical patient’s hydration. In that
case, a proper plan to monitor the patients has to be developed so that patients can be controlled
(Cobey & Hensley, 2017). The missed appointments should also be tracked. This is a proactive
step in managing patient risks.
The cultural safety is explained as the safety as the environment which is emotionally,
socially and spiritually safe for the patients (Krammer & Palese, 2015). In this case, the
residential aged care has to make sure that all the residents are at peace with each other both
socially and emotionally and spiritually.
Discuss other health team involvement that may be required and why
Some of the other health team that might be needed as highlighted below. The first
health team is dentists. Older people are also prone to dental problems, and therefore, dentists

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might be involved in the same situation. The dentist will provide dental and oral treatments.
Some of the common dental treatments are fissure sealants, fillings, scaling and cleaning and
restorations, fitting and lastly removing (Smith et al, 2019) .
The second health team is the Geriatricians. These are specialists that give opinions on
specific age-related health concerns (Cobey & Hensley, 2017). The Geriatricians are needed to
work as part of the treatment team in conjunction with the primary care providers to assist those
patients that have multiple health issues. They usually guide the patients in making treatment
choices.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the influenza virus is very contagious which highly spread from one
individual to the other. In that case, proper measures has to be put in place to prevent infections.
In the case of Mr. Jimmy Holden, he might have got the influenza infection from people around
him especially his daughter and visits him daily, the other relatives along with his colleagues at
the facility. Conversely, some of the infection control precautions are hand hygiene, cough
etiquette together with personal protective equipment. Geriatricians and dentists are some of the
other health team involved since old people are prone to several complications that needs proper
monitoring. Some of the risks assessments within the residential aged care includes checking the
ill health records and hazards to that particular aged care facility. This can help to give some
information on the source of the infections. The patients should also be assessed if cooperating
with nurses or not.

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