Nursing Practice and Infection Control

This assignment delves into the critical role of infection control within nursing practice. It examines various aspects, including hand hygiene practices, personal protective equipment (PPE) use, and the impact of fatigue on healthcare worker compliance. The document also discusses emerging areas in nursing science and their relevance to infection prevention and control. It analyzes case studies, research findings, and best practices to provide a comprehensive understanding of this essential aspect of patient care.

Nursing Practice
20 Questions

Table of Contents
WEEK 1. .........................................................................................................................................1
The National Health Service (NHS).......................................................................................3
WEEK 2 A.......................................................................................................................................4
WEEK 2...........................................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11

WEEK 1.
1. Idea of nurse.
Nurse is a person who is provided with training in order to provide care to the people
who are sick and are hospitalized. The prime duty of the nurse is to provide proper care and
medical attention to the patients.
2. Skills, qualities and attributes of nursing.
Skills: The nurses should posses following skills of communication, critical thinking,
confidence, stamina, ethics, having attention to every detail of the case and adaptability.
Qualities: A good nurse should posses the following qualities in order to make them perfect for
their job: caring nature, quality of writing down everything in detail, being emotionally stable at
work place, should have physical and mental endurance, quick decision making power, effective
communicator and being empathetic in working area (Winters, 2013).
Attributes: The important attributes that play important role in the field of nursing profession
are: education, compensation and personal qualities.
3. Definition of nursing by Royal college of Nursing.
According to the Royal college of nursing the nursing is defined as the use of various
clinical judgement in order to provide the care to patients that helps them in improving,
maintaining and recovering their normal health condition. It also includes approaches that are
required to come up form various health related problems and gain the best quality of life (Royal
College of Nursing, 2017).
4. What is professionalism?
Professionalism is a term that is to describe various qualities, competence, behaviour and
skills that are possessed by individuals in their respective profession.
5. What is accountability and responsibility?
Accountability: According to Caulfield the accountability can be defined as the inheritance of
confidence as a professional that provide nurses an opportunity to take pride in being a
transparent body in the way that they have carried out their practice.
Responsibility: Professional responsibility when applied in nursing profession refers to
application of ethical and moral obligations that permeate the nursing profession (Henly and
et.al., 2015).
6. Principle of prioritisation according to NMC code of Nurses and Midwives.
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Following are the principles of Prioritisation according to NMC code of Nurses and
midwives:
 Treat peoples as individual and uphold their dignity.
 Listen and respond to concerns of the patients.
 To make sure that patients all physical, psychological and social need are assessed and
responded.
 Always works for the best interest of people.
 Maintain and respect the privacy and confidentiality of the people.
7. Effect of prioritisation on the working of nurses.
While treating 10 patients on the basis of concept of prioritisation it requires both the
nurses to work hard as according to Prioritisation each patients should be considered as
individual and requires the fulfilment of all physical, psychological and social needs of the
patients (Moran, Conrad and Burson, 2016). This can also lead to hectic condition and may
affect the working efficiency of the nurses.
8. Difference between confidentiality and privacy
Confidentiality refers to state of being kept secret and on the other hand privacy refers to
fundamental right in which person's can seclude themselves or any information about
themselves. In nursing confidentiality means the information that is shared with physicians,
therapist and other healthcare team member should not be transferred to third person without
patients consent and privacy refers to maintaining the security of persons health records.
9. Implication of poor communication in nursing.
Poor communication can leads to various complication in nursing such as: medical errors,
poor understanding of patients needs, conflicts among colleague and patients in work place,
delay in decision making along with poor decision and increase in level of stress (Nettina, Msn
and Nettina, 2013).
10. Can nurses lead without infringing on the patients care?
When nurse act like a leader than patients is able to get appropriate care and they will not
feel that their patients care is breached but if nurses act as mangers than they infringe the care
that is provided to patients.
11. Clinical governance and its impact on the nursing.
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It is a system through which NHS is able to regulate the functioning of its organisations
and is self accountable for continuous improvement on the quality of service. Clinical
governance pose an important impact on the nursing as it is responsible for the proper training
and education of the nurses and efficient research and development in their field that helps them
to conduct better care services.
12. Advancement in nursing.
Nowadays nursing practice is full of advancement which includes enhancement in
communication among the patients nurses, patients and their family members. Second
advancement is the shifting from paper based records to electronica records. There are a good
deals of other advancement that take place in the field of nursing which includes: effective and
enhanced diagnostic device, new drug delivery process, smarter alarm system and GPS tracking
of medical equipments (Winters, 2013).
The National Health Service (NHS)
1. NHS constitution.
It is the constitution that determines the rights of patients, public and staff. NHS
constitution also provide commitment to the patients and staff, along with the responsibilities
which includes that patients, public and staff owe to each other regarding effective and fair
operations of NHS.
2. 7 key principle of NHS.
The 7 core principle that guide NHS constitution are:
 Provision of comprehensive services to all.
 Free provision of all NHS services.
 NHS aspires the high standard of excellence and professionalism.
 It also supports and promote patients regarding the management of their own health.
 NHS work with other organisation with interest of patients, small communities and other
population (National health services, 2017).
 Commitment to provide good value to all taxpayers.
 Is accountable for all the services it provides to patients, public and communities.
3. Values of NHS.
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Patients, staff and public have helped the NHS to develop the expression of certain
values. These values given by NHS provide a common platform for all to achieve the aspiration.
The value are:
 Working together with patients.
 Respect and dignity to all the patients.
 Commitment regarding the quality of care provided.
 Compassion
 Improving the health condition of patients.
 Treating everyone with equal respect with any discrimination (National health services,
2017).
4. Difference between rights and pledge?
Rights are the set of legal, social and ethical principles for freedom cannot be taken by
any individual even by the government on the other hand pledge is the delivery of personal
property to the creditor in the form of security for a certain amount of debt (Henly and et.al.,
2015).
WEEK 2 A.
1. Define following terms.
Temperature: It is the intensity of heat present in certain object and can be detected by using the
thermometer.
Pyrexia: Pyrexia is the sudden raise in the core body temperature due to a natural immune
response.
Hyperpyrexia: It is a situation in which the body's temperature rises above 106.7 degree
Fahrenheit.
Hypothermia: It is the medical condition in which the temperature of the body lowers down at
fast rate. It occurs when the temperature fall below 95 degree Fahrenheit.
Fever: An abnormal increase in the body temperature along with several complications such as
headache, shivering and in severe cases may result in delirium.
Malignant hyperthermia: It is a disease in which the body temperature rises rapidly along with
muscle contraction.
2. Reasons for temperature measurement.
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Measurement of temperature is necessary because of its influence on the chemicals
present in the body as the rate of the reaction in the body increase with the increase in the body
temperature. Along with this extreme high body temperature can results in heat strokes and low
temperature can results in hypothermia (Fischer, Schweizer and Seifert, 2015).
3. From where body temperature can be measured.
Body temperature can be measured from several places in the body which includes:
armpits, mouth, ear and anus.
4. Other ways of assessing the patients body temperature.
Nurse can measure the body temperature by two methods invasive and non-invasive
methods. In invasive method temperature can be measured by placing the temperature probe into
oesophagus, urinary bladder and pulmonary artery. In non invasive measures temperature can be
measured by assessing the forehead, axilla, rectum, oral cavity and external auditory canal.
5. Regulatory mechanism of body temperature and negative feedback system along with
complication that occurs during pyrexia.
The temperature in mammals is detected by number of thermoreceptors in skin and
hypothalamus present in brain. Change in temperature bring nerve impulses to the muscles and
glands that causes following changes: in case of hot temperature vasodilation occurs along with
sweating and pilorelaxation. And in case when temperature is too low vasoconstriction take place
along with shivering and piloerection (Allen and Allen, 2013).
In negative feedback mechanism body perform the thermoregulation to maintain the
homoeostasis. The thermoregulatory control centre in brain is hypothalamus. It signals sweat
glands to increase the secretion to decrease the body temperature.
The complications that may occur during pyrexia are: dehydration, delirium, coma,
seizures, liver failure and kidney failure.
6. Evidence based management of patients with pyrexia.
The evidence based management refers to the process of providing the best quality
treatment on the basis of evidences. In case of pyrexia nurses first check for the primary
immunization and search for the source of fever. Then they provide antipyretic medicines a
paracetamol that is analgesic having antipyretic effects.
WEEK 2.
1. Standard Precaution.
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It is a complete set of practices that used control the infection by preventing the
transmission of disease caused by pathogens, which can be acquired by coming in contact with
body fluids, blood, mucous membrane and non-intact skin (Dowd and et.al., 2013).
2. Principle of Infection control.
Following are the principles of infection control:
 To achieve hand hygiene
 Using personal protective equipment
 Safe handling and disposal of sharps
 Safe handling and disposal of clinical waste
 Managing blood and body fluids
 Decontamination of equipment
 Achieve and maintain appropriate clean clinical environment
 Proper usage of indwelling devices
 Good communication among care workers and patients.
 Training
3. 5 moments for hand hygiene.
The 5 moments of hand hygiene are:
 Cleaning hand before touching the patients.
 Washing hands before performing the aseptic procedures.
 Washing hands after getting exposure to body fluids of patients.
 Cleaning hands after touching the patient.
 Cleaning hands after touching the patients surrounding which includes instruments, his
clothes and mattress (Frieden and et.al., 2014).
4. 7 step process of washing hands.
Steps involved in washing hands are:
Step 1. Wetting hands with water and applying ample of soap.
Step 2. Then there is need to rub both palms together.
Step 3. After this back of each hand is rubbed properly.
Step 4. Rubbing both hands by interlocking them into each other.
Step 5. Then comes rubbing back part of fingers along with finger tips.
Step 6. After that thumb is rubbed along with end part of the wrist.
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Step 7. Final step is rinsing both hands properly with water.
5. 6 links in the chain of infection and process involved in breaking this link.
Following are the links in chain of infection:
1. Infectious Agent: pathogens that cause infections i.e. bacteria, virus etc.
2. Reservoir: The host where these pathogens live i.e. humans, animals etc.
3. Portal of exist: Path from where they leave the body i.e. respiratory tract, intestinal tract
etc.
4. Transmission: This includes how they spread i.e. through direct contact, contact with
body fluid or blood etc.
5. Portal of entry: Path from where germs enter the host i.e. open wounds, respiratory tract
etc.
6. Susceptible Host: The person who gets infected which includes infants, elders and
debilitated (Eiamsitrakoon and et.al., 2013).
There are several ways that can help in breaking the chain of infection which includes:
Hand-washing
 Before and after eating.
 After sneezing and coughing.
 After touching hairs, nose and face. After engaging in sports activities.
By maintaining the personal hygiene
 By taking shower or bath on daily basis.
 Cutting and cleaning the nails of hands and legs.
 Wearing clean and washed clothes daily.
 Minimal use of jewellery (Wood and et.al., 2014).
6. Difference between bacteria and virus and their process of causing infection.
Bacteria are generally larger in size i.e. 1000 nm that the viruses whose size is much
smaller and ranges in between 20-400 nm. Bacteria are prokaryote ranging from rod shape to
sphere shape bacteria's on the other viruses are the small infectious agents that can survive and
replicate only inside the living cells. The DNA and RNA in case of bacteria's are found floating
freely in cytoplasm on the other hand in viruses they are enclosed inside protein.
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Both bacteria and viruses enter our body through the many ways and start multiplying in
body of the host. Bacteria's hinders the normal functioning of human body and result in various
kinds of illness for example streptococcus pneumonia, a gram positive bacteria that result in
pneumonia in humans (Toniolo and et.al., 2014). Similarly, viruses tends to damage the cell of
various organs and then utilize those cells to replicate themselves and produce more viruses. For
example, staphylococcus aureus result in mild infection but can worsen the patients condition
who are having cancer.
7. Explain following terms:
Infection: The process of being infected by the foreign particles.
Colonisation: It is the process by which infection causing species spread and develop at new
area.
Commensal: It is the situation in which different organisms live together in a symbiotic
relationship by benefiting each other.
Pathogen: These are the bacteria and virus that cause disease.
Antigen: These are the toxic foreign bodies that initiates the immune response in body and lead
to the production antibodies.
Antibodies: Also known immunoglobulins is a Y shaped protein mainly produced by plasma
cells in order to neutralize the pathogens.
Immunity: It is the ability of one's body to resist against the infection caused by various
pathogens.
Innate Immunity: When the antigen enters in human body then immediate non-specific response
of defence mechanism by body is the innate immunity.
Opportunist: When a person take advantages of the available opportunity without any planning
then he is called opportunist.
Adaptive immunity: It is complex antigen specific immune response against the antigen that is
been recognized in the body (Ang, Ngoh and Chua, 2013).
Virulence: It is known as the severity of the particular disease.
8. 5 key entry portal for pathogens
 Skin and mucous membrane.
 Respiratory tract
 Digestive tract
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 Genitourinary tract
 Placenta
9. Ways in which microorganisms spread.
5 ways in which microorganisms spread are:
 Physical contact.
 Droplet spreading.
 Through contaminated items such as faeces, cloths, urine, food and air.
 Exposure to blood.
 Sexual contacts.
10. Role of blood cells in protecting the body against the infections.
The Celsius present in the blood are helpful in invading the foreign organism and produce
the inflammatory response to destroy them and remove from the body. The white blood cells
plays major role in this in which the granulocytes and monocytes help in ingesting the
microorganisms and participate in the enzyme breakdown to remove the debris. Leukocytes
helps in the development of the immunity (Eiamsitrakoon and et.al., 2013).
11. What is Health Care Association Infections and 3 common infections found in hospitals.
Health Care Association Infections (HCAI), are the infections which spread in patients
when they receive any sort of medical treatment or recently gone through any surgery. The most
common type of HCAI's in hospitals are: central line associated bloodstream infections, occurs
when some infectious agents enters the blood stream through central line patients (Dowd and
et.al., 2013). Second is catheter associated urinary tract infections, in this the indwelling
catheters lead to infection in the hospitals. Third most common infection is ventilator associated
infections, is a type of lung infection through mechanical breathing machines in the hospitals.
12. In what conditions non sterile gloves should be worn?
 Before any aseptic procedures.
 When there are expectation to come in contact with blood or body fluids, secretions,
excretions and mucous membrane of patients.
 When having contact with patients equipment and environment during treatment
procedures (Toniolo and et.al., 2014).
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REFERENCES
Books and journals
Allen, P. A. and Allen, J. R., 2013. Basin analysis: Principles and application to petroleum play
assessment. John Wiley & Sons.
Ang, T. N., Ngoh, G. C. and Chua, A. S. M., 2013. Comparative study of various pretreatment
reagents on rice husk and structural changes assessment of the optimized pretreated rice
husk. Bioresource technology. 135. pp.116-119.
Dowd, K. and et.al., 2013. Zoonotic disease risk perceptions and infection control practices of
Australian veterinarians: call for change in work culture. Preventive veterinary
medicine. 111(1). pp.17-24.
Eiamsitrakoon, T. and et.al., 2013. Hand hygiene behavior: translating behavioral research into
infection control practice. Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology. 34(11). pp.1137-
1145.
Fischer, C., Schweizer, C. and Seifert, T., 2015. Assessment of fatigue crack closure under in-
phase and out-of-phase thermomechanical fatigue loading using a temperature dependent
strip yield model. International Journal of Fatigue. 78. pp.22-30.
Frieden, T. R. and et.al., 2014. Ebola 2014—new challenges, new global response and
responsibility. New England Journal of Medicine. 371(13). pp.1177-1180.
Henly, S. J. and et.al., 2015. Emerging areas of science: Recommendations for nursing science
education from the Council for the Advancement of Nursing Science Idea
Festival. Nursing Outlook. 63(4). pp.398-407.
Moran, K. J., Conrad, D. and Burson, R., 2016. The doctor of nursing practice scholarly project.
Jones & Bartlett Publishers.
Nettina, S. M., Msn, A. B. and Nettina, S. M., 2013. Lippincott manual of nursing practice.
Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
Toniolo, R. and et.al., 2014. Amperometric Sniffer for Volatile Amines Based on Paper‐
Supported Room Temperature Ionic Liquids Enabling Rapid Assessment of Fish
Spoilage. Electroanalysis. 26(9). pp.1966-1974.
Winters, C. A. ed., 2013. Rural nursing: Concepts, theory, and practice. Springer Publishing
Company.
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Wood, A. M. and et.al., 2014. Infection control hazards associated with the use of forced-air
warming in operating theatres. Journal of Hospital Infection. 88(3). pp.132-140.
Online
National health services. 2017. [Online]. Available through
<http://www.nhs.uk/pages/home.aspx>. [Accessed on 4th October 2017].
Royal College of Nursing. 2017. [Online]. Available through <https://www.rcn.org.uk/>.
[Accessed on 4th October 2017].
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