NURS6029 Semester 2: Health Policy Reflection and Research Analysis

This report is a focused discussion and critical reflection on a health policy, specifically the Infection Prevention and Control policy, within an Australian community healthcare setting. The assignment, completed for NURS6029, begins with an overview of the clinical placement, which included primary healthcare and home-based treatment, highlighting the application of the policy. It then critically reviews the policy, examining relevant research, and discussing the susceptibility of healthcare workers and patients to healthcare-associated infections (HAIs). The review emphasizes the policy's goals in minimizing HAIs and outlines the roles of various stakeholders in its implementation. Finally, the report evaluates the effectiveness of the policy, detailing its implementation through hand hygiene, sterile procedures, and other practices, while addressing the importance of knowledge and awareness in preventing infections. The report highlights the policy's application in community healthcare and its impact on patient safety and worker health.

NURS6029 Australian Health Care: Global Context Assignment 2 Template Focused
Discussion and Critical Reflection 1500 words Total marks 30
STUDENT
ID_____________________________________DATE___________________________
Policy
title________________________________________________________________________
QUESTION 1 (WORD LIMIT 300) 5 marks
Provide a brief overview of your recent clinical placement setting and the policy you will be
referring to in your assignment. Your overview should have relevance for content in this unit
of study. The placement you refer to must have been undertaken during this semester
(semester 2, 2019).
Answer: The placement setting was a community healthcare working both in a primary
healthcare clinic and also provides home based treatment. The main areas were giving
immunization, basic community care, dressing the wound and a basic community care. The
community care is in compliance with the guidelines proposed by the Infection Prevention
and Control policy and works in accordance to the principles ensuring patient’s safety and
preventing the risk of infection in patients, visitors and health workers The policy is
implemented by focusing on the areas within the NSW organizations including-
 Necessity of the Infection prevention and Control Program.
 Reprocess the reusable medical devices.

 Monitoring the Infection Prevention and Control incidents and risk,
 Standard precautions related to the transmission of infections.
 Outbreaks of communicable diseases and infections that ate easily transmitted.
 The strategies and principle for the management and prevention of Hospital
Associated Infections as well as the infections caused by the communicable disease
and multi drug resistant organisms (MROs).
 The requirement for governance and quality monitoring.
 Handling and treating animals as patients.
The precautions taken to manage and minimize the risk of acquiring hospital
associated infections falls under the scope of this policy. Precautions are taken to prevent the
transmission of infections from person to person through air. Standard precautions are taken
to prevent the occurrence of Hospital Associated Infections by applying alcohol based hand
rub, antimicrobial, aseptic techniques, a proper way of cleaning and washing the areas where
the clinical procedures takes place (Mehta et al., 2014). Standard precautions must be applied
while working in the clinical settings both in hospital settings or when providing care at
home, and precautions must be taken in both the cases, while caring for all the patients as
well as while working with bodily substances including excretions and secretions and also
mucosal membranes like eyes (Health.nsw.gov.au, 2019).
QUESTION 1 WORD
COUNT______________________MARK_______________________

QUESTION 2 (WORD LIMIT 600) 10 marks
Critically review the policy, identifying, examining and presenting relevant published
research on the policy topic (no older than seven (7) years) and its relevance to the
placement setting.
Answer: The Healthcare workers, patients, visitors, careers and nurses are all susceptible to
develop hospital acquired infection or communicable diseases in a Public Health
Organization and also in a primary care centre. However, certain functional areas like the
intensive care units, transplant units, burns units and haematology units, neonatal units,
patients are potentially at a high risk of getting healthcare associated infections. There are
more than 165,000 Healthcare Associated Infections (HAIs) in the acute healthcare system in
Australia that affects not only the patients but also the health workers including nurses,
laboratory technicians, health professionals and other staffs working in the clinical settings.
The infections can occur in any settings including acute care, general clinical practice,
clinical settings where paramedics work and also in the long term facilities and makes the
most common complications within the patients (Nhmrc.gov.au, 2019). Health care workers,
since, are exposed to a contaminated environment and continuously working in an unhealthy
clinical settings, they are at a high risk of developing hospital acquired infection that can have
detrimental effects on their health. While working in such clinical settings, the health workers
including nurses often come across situations where there is a high chance of getting exposed
to contaminated samples, instruments and other hospital materials. Health care associated
infections have become a major issue for hospitals worldwide and are the most common
infection affecting patients in hospital (Fernando, Gray & Gottlieb, 2017). Some patients
receiving treatment and care in a community based settings or residential or in home based

settings are also at risk. Studies have shown that hospital associated infections are a major
cause of morbidity and increases the burden for patient’s family as well as the carers
(Safetyandquality.gov.au, 2019). Some studies believes that before the implementation of the
instructions and guidelines proposed by the Infection Prevention and control Policy there is a
strong requirement for making the health workers educated and impart knowledge among
them on the practice of the Infection control Policy (Cox & Simpson, 2018). Infection
prevention and control policy aims at minimizing the adverse health impacts on the patients
who are treated within the health care settings and reduce HAI by providing guidelines to the
NSW organizations on how to manage, prevent and control Healthcare Associated Infections
(HAIs).
Infection Prevention and Control Policy aims at providing a high quality care to the
patients as well as providing a safe working environment for the health workers working in
the clinical settings as well in community health settings. Infection Control is reinforced by
the principles of microbiology and the ways to prevent infection caused by the causative
microorganism (Slimings et al., 2014). The guidelines proposed by the Australian Infection
Prevention and control Policy provides recommendations for clinical aspects of the
prevention and control of Infections by focusing on the principles and key areas for action
(Nhmrc.gov.au, 2019). The guidelines that provide a risk management framework ensuring
the principles of infection prevention and control are to be used by all the healthcare workers
and in a wide range of healthcare settings. While implementing the principles and
recommendations the healthcare facilities must consider the risk associated with the
transmission of infection and implement the interventions in accordance with the specific
settings (Mehta et al., 2014).

NSW Public Health Organizations (PHOs) provides the strategies and government)
structures for the implementation of the Infection control policy principles and directives for
reducing the risk of infections (Health.nsw.gov.au, 2019).
 Clinical Excellence Commission- Provides assistance to support, implement, monitor
and evaluate this policy and maintains the currency of the NSW Infection Prevention
and Control Practice Handbook.
 Health Education and Training Institutes- Provides resources for education that
supports implementation of the policy and are in compliance with the policy.
 Chief Executive of Local Health District and Specialty Health Network- They have
the responsibility for assigning leadership responsibility, resources and personnel for
the implementation of this policy.
 Directors of Clinical Governance- The major responsibility of this unit is to
communicate about the policy to the managers and other health workers, ensuring a
local infection prevention programs are working properly and are in place.
 Clinical leaders and senior managers- Implement the above policy by monitoring and
evaluating local infection prevention programs.
 Infection prevention and control professionals- Provides leadership on the infection
prevention and control reconnaissance. Provide leadership to manage the occurrence
of Hospital Associated Infections and other risks on health workers, nurses and
caregivers, patients and visitors within the healthcare settings.
 Health workers- The health workers including medical professionals, nurses,
healthcare providers, laboratory technicians, and other healthcare staffs must comply
with the guidelines of this policy (Health.nsw.gov.au, 2019).

QUESTION 2 WORD
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QUESTION 3 (WORD LIMIT 600) 10 marks
Provide an evaluation of the effectiveness of this policy within the given environment and
present details of the way in which the policy has been implemented, be it successfully or
unsuccessfully.
Answer: Infection Prevention and Control Policy outlines the guidelines in order to minimize
the risk of patients, volunteers, visitors and health workers acquiring healthcare associated
infection, communicable diseases and resistant organism colonization
(Safetyandquality.gov.au, 2019). The policy applies to all Affiliated healthcare organizations,
Board Governed Statutory Health Corporates, Cancer Institute, Public Hospitals, Chief
Executive Governed Statutory Health Corporations, Community Health Centers, NSW
Health Pathology , Public Health Units, Local Health Districts, Dental Schools and Clinics,
Environmental Health Officers of Local Councils, Government Medical Officers, Ministry of
Health, NSW Ambulance Service, Private Hospitals and day Procedure Centers, Public
Health System Support Division and Specialty Network Governed Statutory Health
Corporations. The main purpose of the Infection Control policy is to provide leadership and
guide the NSW Health Organizations on how to efficiently and effectively prevent, control
and manage the infections to minimize and prevent the occurrence of these infections of
patients when treated both within the health care settings in clinics or in a community setting.

The Local infection prevention and control documents must comply with the guidelines and
principles of the policy outlines within the NSW infection Prevention and Control Practice
Handbook (Safetyandquality.gov.au, 2019). Standard precautions taken to avoid the
occurrence of Hospital Associated Infections involves the minimum measures to minimize
the transmission of infections and are applied to all healthcare settings irrespective of the
confirmed or suspected infection status of the patients (Cdc.gov, 2019). The standard
precautions are taken by adhering to the following working practices-
o Maintaining hand hygiene- Hand hygiene plays a crucial role in the prevention of
infections therefore, after every activity performed in the clinical settings hands
should be rubbed with alcohol besides washing with liquid soap. ABHR dispensers
must be close to the point of care. Gloves and masks must be used in such situations
where the health worker is potentially exposed to body substances and hospital
materials.
o Reprocessing of re-usable medical devices (RMDS) - RMDs must be reprocessed
according to the relevant Australian and International Standards and the instructions
of the manufacturer.
o Appropriate and correct use of personal protective equipment (PPE)
o Using of aseptic technique
o Safe use and disposal of sharp objects and instruments.
o Performing routine and through cleaning of the environment.
o Cleaning and reprocessing equipment shared by the patients.
o Maintaining respiratory hygiene and cough etiquette
o Safe handling and disposal of waste and used linen (Cdc.gov, 2019).

Health policies are developed and implemented with the aim to eradicate the risk of
developing infections that have detrimental effect on the patients, heath workers, visitors,
volunteers and staffs working in the clinical settings. These infections are a major risk to
patient’s safety and therefore needs to be addressed seriously. The policy of Infection Control
is reinforced by the principles of microbiology and the ways to prevent infection caused by
the causative microorganism. Therefore, to apply the proper precautions, an understanding of
the infection severity, its mode of transmission and the impact of it on health are required.
Inadequate knowledge and unawareness on microorganisms and their impact on health have
shown to manifest improper and inappropriate application of precautions for clinical
procedures that have chances of transmission of these infections.
The policy has been implemented in the community health care settings by the
following ways:
1. Before preparing vaccine and after each patient’s vaccination, hands were cleaned
with an alcohol-based waterless antiseptic hand rub or washed with liquid soap
(Cdc.gov, 2019).
2. They have used sterile dressing procedures and equipment while dressing wounds
and made sure that they were maintaining hand hygiene (Pickering & Marsden,
2015).
3. They cleaned the wound with antiseptic products and ensured that there is no way
of contamination due to lack of monitoring or following up with the safe
procedures.
4. Maintained other hygienic practice both within the health care settings as well as
in the home based treatments.

References:
Cdc.gov. (2019). Preventing Healthcare-associated Infections | HAI | CDC. Cdc.gov. [online]
Available at: https://www.cdc.gov/hai/prevent/prevention.html [Accessed 6 Aug.
2019].
Cox, J. L., & Simpson, M. D. (2018). Microbiology Education and Infection Control
Competency: Offering a New Perspective. Journal of microbiology & biology
education, 19(2).
Fernando, S. A., Gray, T. J., & Gottlieb, T. (2017). Healthcare acquired infections:‐
prevention strategies. Internal medicine journal, 47(12), 1341-1351.
Health.nsw.gov.au. (2019). health.nsw.gov.au. [online] Retrieved from: health.nsw.gov.au.
[Accessed on 6 Aug. 2019]
Mehta, Y., Gupta, A., Todi, S., Myatra, S. N., Samaddar, D. P., Patil, V., ... & Ramasubban,
S. (2014). Guidelines for prevention of hospital acquired infections. Indian journal of
critical care medicine: peer-reviewed, official publication of Indian Society of
Critical Care Medicine, 18(3), 149.
Nhmrc.gov.au. (2019). Preventing infection | NHMRC. Nhmrc.gov.au. [online] Available at:
https://www.nhmrc.gov.au/health-advice/public-health/preventing-infection
[Accessed 6 Aug. 2019].
Pickering, D., & Marsden, J. (2015). Techniques for aseptic dressing and procedures.
Retrieved 11 August 2019, from
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4579997/

Safetyandquality.gov.au. (2019). Safetyandquality.gov.au. [online] Retrieved from:
Safetyandquality.gov.au. [Accessed on 6 Aug. 2019].
Slimings, C., Armstrong, P., Beckingham, W. D., Bull, A. L., Hall, L., Kennedy, K. J., ... &
Richards, M. J. (2014). Increasing incidence of Clostridium difficile infection,
Australia, 2011–2012. Medical Journal of Australia, 200(5), 272-276.

QUESTION 3 WORD
COUNT____________________________MARK________________________
OVERALL QUALITY (5 marks)
MARK________________________
TOTAL MARK_____________________