Occupational Health & Safety: A Case Study on Covid-19 Diagnosis and Patient Care

This case study focuses on a patient diagnosed with Covid-19 and the Occupational Health & Safety measures taken for patient care. It covers preventive practices, patient-centric approach, neurological and musculoskeletal assessments, and more.

Occupational Health
and Safety

Table of Content.
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
Question 1....................................................................................................................................1
Question 2....................................................................................................................................1
Question 3 ...................................................................................................................................2
Question 4 ...................................................................................................................................2
Question 5....................................................................................................................................3
Question 6....................................................................................................................................4
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................5

MAIN BODY
Question 1
Mrs smith was shifted to the emergency ward of the hospital. Their diagnosis primarily
asks them about alter experience Smith is facing. It includes major body ache and minute fever
from the last three days, which was also followed by the feeling of cold, coughing and
discomfort in running nose. Since the symptoms updated by the patient are somewhat related to
the flu physician's advice for the PCR test. Other than that assessment reports were taken,
According to the observation patients' pulse rate was high and were having difficulty breathing.
The patient was obese. Body temperature and B.P was controlled manner. PCR report signifies
that Smith is diagnosed with Covid 19. Other than that Physician also analyzed the patient
history to provide effective medication while keeping in mind the patient's allergies and
complications (Bäuerle et. al., (2020)).
Chain of infection consist of basic 6 steps which are primarily the infectious agent is SAR-COV-
2 virus which includes symptoms like fever which can also be caused by influenza virus or flu
and the carrier for the virus infection is all living and non living things and its incubation period
is for 5-7 days. In some patients symptoms are visible from the second day of contact. These
virus portal of exist are majorly through respiratory droplets which are contacted by coughing,
sneezing or taking. The virus can enter body through skin membrane or they enter through
making bond with eatables.
Question 2
(A) Primary preventive practice are the practices that health care practitioner should
incorporate while providing patient care or while analysing them. Significantly, duty of nurse is
to guide patients also to take certain measures to surpass the quality treatment. It includes nurses
should use gloves while analysing them and should wear masks in the ward while treating them.
Also, they should provide the patient with the mask and guide them to use it. Other than it nurses
should use the syringe and through it out after usage to reduce the infection within others. While
analyzing the patient, it should be mandatory for health care practitioners to exercise sterilized
tools. Ward should be cleaned at a regular time (Vaira et. al., (2020)).
(B) Since the patient is Covid positive, major prevention to stop the spread are to be
taken which include the disinfection of the floor and area where the patient is shifted to. Health
1

care practitioner should sanitize before or after contact with the patient. They should guide the
patient to wash hands with alcohol-based hand wash for at least 60 seconds. The nurses should
dispose of the fluid exposures of the patient in an accurate manner (Situmorang, (2021)). Educate
Smith to cover their nose or mouth with the handkerchief while getting the feeling of sneezing
out or coughing. As this will reduce the chance of infection to others and immediately wash their
palms or sanitize them. Patient should talk to a consultant or nurse while having a distance and
wearing a mask for sure. Being a nurse, they should also guide the patient to avoid touching the
face and eyes regularly and when incorporating then make sure that hands are cleaned or
sanitized (Calkins,(2021)).
Question 3
The patient-centric approach helps health care providers to take better decisions
according to patient needs and demands. And it also motivates patients to be active and associate
with their health treatment. Communication practice that nurse should practice includes
accepting property which means that nurse should listen to the patient side and also demonstrate
through non-verbal actions that one is interested to know by just simply nodding the head. Since
the patient has hearing impairment as a nurse, they should ensure that patient is wearing the tool
and they should express through sign language (Juneja et. al., (2020)).
The nurse should orient Smith's action and provide him the acknowledgement for their
performed action with a compliment or express it which will provide them the motivation of
progress. Being nurse, they should provide the patient with proper time as it will be built a strong
relationship. Other than this nurses should engage patients in treatment by providing them the
choice to choose the best one that can provide relief faster to the patient. Its the duty of nurse to
communicate with the patient in a soft tone while releasing their stress. Additionally, should
aware patient about the side effects that are associated with the medicaments and they don't have
to be panic as it can be wind off with time or proper care is provided to patients (Thau et. al.,
(2018)).
Question 4
(A)Neurological assessment is required for Mrs. Smith to evaluate the cause behind the
pain patient is experiencing on the right side of the forehead. Additionally, is also has
hypertension. Through these examinations, a physician can interpret the cause behind the
discomfort patient is feeling. Assessment can be done in various forms, some are explained.
2

Primarily the cognitive interactions did understand the patient level of concentration and mindset
(Bäuerle et. al., (2020)). This was performed as the patient is old age to check Mrs. smith's
catching and memory power. Other than this physicians asses the patient body balance and
vision to translate the progress report of medicaments that Smith took for glaucoma. This visual
examination is essential to examine the patient's visual power to interpret the efficacy of advised
eye drops to the patient. This will also provide the health care provider update on whether they
can execute the conscious action or not. Other than this Smith's facial sensations included touch
or jaw movement they felt while analyzing and the magnitude of sound the patient hear while
using the hearing aid. To asses Smiths' the headache caused by the patient's vital signs, whether
either eye is red or the patient is feeling dizzy is analyzed (Moore, (2021)).
(B) Neurovascular assessment is done to examine the impaired blood flow in the patient
body due to any external injury that may has impacting normal body functioning. This is also
done to examine the damage caused to the peripheral nerves of the body. If not evaluated on time
then it may lead to permanent discomfort or injury in the body. It is required to be tested for
Smiths to pain or internal injury smiths might have witnessed in the upper limb during the
hospital. It may have occurred because a patient has fallen while getting on the move from the
bed.
The examination includes asking the patient the location where they are feeling the emission of
pain and its location (Swift et. al., (2018)). A Health care practitioner should examine the
temperature of the affected area and compare it bilaterally with other body parts. To analyse the
sensation of the painful or the injury part, they should lightly touch to examine the swelling.
Healthcare practitioner should ask smith to move their right upper limb slowly in every direction
to assess smith's cognition power of the limbs. When examining all these factors it is found that
there was no fracture seen inpatient. Nursing staff can look for even the colouration caused in the
infected part as compared to other skin (Bae & Roh, (2020)).
Question 5
Mrs. Smith's musculoskeletal assessment is required to diagnose their physical condition.
It is required as when a patient was admitted to hospital during Covid, they fell off from the bed
while going patient. Smith landed on the floor from the right side and evenly wasn't able to get
up too. To examine the intrinsic hurt amassment is done (Sujkowski et. al.,(2022)). It includes
starting while examining the Smith age which is eventually 82 and also the obese patient with
3

many accommodated diseases too. Further patient family history including social history is
witnessed. Their social history includes Smith drinking wine and being overweight too. Physical
assessment is done by witnessing the patient's posture, BMI and body strength. To ensure that no
harm patient witnessed on the right side, right upper limb tenderness and bone motion are
evaluated. Authenticated evaluation is done by proper diagnostic evaluation that can be gained
through x-ray, MRI, bone scan, biopsy and many other. Patients witnessed no fracture when
evaluated through x-ray (Rodríguez-Huerta et. al.,(2019)).
Question 6
Being nurse, they should advise the patient to use an N95 mask regularly as it will reduce
the symptom in the patient body. Mask will reduce the human-to-human transmission. Since
patients' age is more they need to be in isolation. It is essential to keep them safer from further
infection that may increase the risk of living patients. The risk patient also has a history of
glaucoma, diabetes and hypertension. The patient should be guided by the nurse to take a proper
diet which will help the patient cure the inflammation caused in the body due to Covid (Leahy‐
Warren et. al., (2018)).
Other than this patients should be guided to incorporate exercise into their daily routine.
Since the patient is recently diagnosed with Covid they should practice yoga to improve their
lung capacity and it will also regulate the patient's weight which is essential to decrease the risk
of diabetes and hypertension. However, patients, who attend the replacement surgery should
walk to make the body adapt to the changes easily. The patient should also take special care of
the eye by using the appropriate medication as advised. A proper plan of action should be
provided to the patient through the nurse for the diet to ensure that the patient's health is not
compromised. A diet plan is important as it will prevent a patient from further risk or illness and
will also make the patient feel cured as well as satisfied (Vázquez-Sánchez et. al., (2018)).
4

REFERENCES
Books and Journals:
Bae, K. S., & Roh, Y. S. (2020). Training needs analysis of Korean nurses' neurological
assessment competency. Nursing & Health Sciences, 22(1), 99-107.
Bäuerle, A., Graf, J., Jansen, C., Dörrie, N., Junne, F., Teufel, M., & Skoda, E. M. (2020). An e-
mental health intervention to support burdened people in times of the COVID-19
pandemic: CoPE It. Journal of Public Health, 42(3), 647-648.
Bäuerle, A., Graf, J., Jansen, C., Dörrie, N., Junne, F., Teufel, M., & Skoda, E. M. (2020). An e-
mental health intervention to support burdened people in times of the COVID-19
pandemic: CoPE It. Journal of Public Health, 42(3), 647-648.
Calkins, D. J. (2021). Adaptive responses to neurodegenerative stress in glaucoma. Progress in
Retinal and Eye Research, 84, 100953.
Juneja, M., Singh, S., Agarwal, N., Bali, S., Gupta, S., Thakur, N., & Jindal, P. (2020).
Automated detection of Glaucoma using deep learning convolution network (G-
net). Multimedia Tools and Applications, 79(21), 15531-15553.
Leahy‐Warren, P., Day, M. R., Philpott, L., Glavin, K., Gjevjon, E. R., Steffenak, A. K. M., ... &
Mulcahy, H. (2018). A falls case summary: Application of the public health nursing
intervention wheel. Public health nursing, 35(4), 307-316.
Moore, T. (2021). Neurological assessment. In Nursing Skills in Control and Coordination (pp.
33-43). Routledge.
Rodríguez-Huerta, M. D., Álvarez-Pol, M., Fernández-Catalán, M. L., Fernández-Vadillo, R.,
Martín-Rodríguez, M., Quicios-Dorado, B., & Díez-Fernández, A. (2019). An
informative nursing intervention for families of patients admitted to the intensive care
unit regarding the satisfaction of their needs: The INFOUCI study. Intensive and
Critical Care Nursing, 55, 102755.
Situmorang, D. D. B. (2021). Music therapy for the treatment of patients with COVID-19:
psychopathological problems intervention and well-being improvement. Infectious
Diseases in Clinical Practice (Baltimore, Md.), 29(3), e198.
Sujkowski, A.L., Hong, L., Wessells, R.J. and Todi, S.V., 2021. The protective role of exercise
against age-related neurodegeneration. Ageing Research Reviews, p.101543.
Swift, D. L., McGee, J. E., Earnest, C. P., Carlisle, E., Nygard, M., & Johannsen, N. M. (2018).
The effects of exercise and physical activity on weight loss and maintenance. Progress
in cardiovascular diseases, 61(2), 206-213.
Thau, A., Lloyd, M., Freedman, S., Beck, A., Grajewski, A., & Levin, A. V. (2018). New
classification system for pediatric glaucoma: implications for clinical care and a
research registry. Current opinion in ophthalmology, 29(5), 385-394.
Vaira, L. A., Salzano, G., Deiana, G., & De Riu, G. (2020). Anosmia and ageusia: common
findings in COVID‐19 patients. The Laryngoscope, 130(7), 1787-1787.
Vázquez-Sánchez, M. Á., Valero-Cantero, I., Carrión-Velasco, Y., Castro-López, P., Suárez-
Cadenas, E., & Casals, C. (2018). Applicability and Clinical Validity of Nursing
Outcomes Classification in a Nursing Intervention of Nutritional Counseling for
Patients With Malnutrition. International Journal of Nursing Knowledge, 30(3), 168-
172.
5