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

NURSING ASSIGNMENT PAPER 3
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.